Anyone ever go to court in Arizona over PDLs

What are the names of the PDL companies?
Are they storefronts or online?

I am from Arizona as well, though I have never defaulted on a store front loan. It would be helpful and very informative to our AZ members if you share what companies you are dealing with and keep us updated on the process. I am sorry you had to default and you are in this situation but we can all learn alot from your experience if you are willing to share it.

all storefront

buckeye checksmart 350
loan mart 500
checkmate 500

have paid enough interest on these to have paid them off probably 4 or 5 times. had a personaal problem come up and i had to decide what to pay. pdls or rent and food. had no idea these people are such creeps. its all good as long as they get your money. anyways, i talked to corporate with all three, and they were all jerks. just like to yell over the phone at me, so i had my #changed. what a nightmare

yes, i will keep AZ informed of my outcome when it happens. i hate the waiting

Ok so you pretty much tried to reason with them already. Have you ever asked about an EPP before you defaulted? Just wondering?

Just to clarify...

When a PDL takes you to small claims court to collect the loan, they DO NOT make a bunch of money off of you. The big picture is that you cause them to lose money. Granted we get our principal and fee back, but the additional fees that you pay are a reimbursement of what was paid to the courts and Sherriff. If there is any "profit", it is a very small statutory interest, currently about 2.5% in my state. The company has also lost the use of the money that you did not pay back for this period and the man-hours to collect, both instore and court. You end up paying much more to the courts than the PDL.

the only one that told me about an epp was buckeye checksmart. was going to do that and my son ended up in hospital. medication for him came first, then rent & food. there was nothing left for the pdls. i even lost my car insurance during that time...luckily i have that resolved. i wanted to pay these places what i owed them and be done with it, but i needed to make paymenys and they refused.

I know that buckeye and loan mart offer an epp prior to default but checkmate does not offer anything except a buy down. I would really call their corporate office back and try to talk to someone who does not yell. Tell them of your desire to resolve the issue and that you are willing to make payments. I would really try hard to communicate with them, if they yell just let them yell then speak calmly and maybe you will make progress. I would work hard on this before I would let it go to court as the expense will be much greater.

you would think that these companies would make payment arrangements. i mean if a person is willing to pay, then why not? they would probably save money on man hours by not having people call and yell at you over the phone. like thats going to do anything. if a person does'nt have the money then yelling at them does no good and in my opinion is very unprofessional

i can try to give them one more call. not checksmart though. that man was sooooooo mean, the thought of ever talking to him again makes me feel ill. what an uncaring jerk. i wonder how he sleeps at night

Couple of issues with your idea...

1. The problem with setting up payments is that it creates a "slippery slope" for the company. It teaches the employees that it is easier to set-up payments than to collect the account. It teaches the customers that the PDL no longer does PDL's but instead they do installment loans. The end result is that the business model is not built for installments, it is built on lending and collecting the fee at the end of each loan. Most PDL's fees are based on a flat-rate and not simple interst which continues to grow each day, so a loan that is due in 2 weeks earns the same fee as one that take 2 months to pay off.

2. The use of Small Claims gives the arrangements "teeth" for the PDL to enforce pay-off. Example, if you and I have an agreement for you to pay $50 per month and you stop paying, I am still at square 1. If the courts agree to your payment plan of $50 per month, I then have some recourse if you stop paying the agreed amount.

I know that it may seem "silly" to not accept the payment arrangements or spend money on small claims for the company, but the reasoning is valid. We are not in business to lose money and generally will lend to individuals that others would deny. The fee to borrow $100 from a storefront is approximatly $16-$17 on average, try bouncing a $100 dollar check with your bank and see what the cost is?

I agree. I think it is understood time is money and money is time. If you call us and we do not have the money at the time then you are angry. Then we call you and we have the money at our time you are angry. This is nutz! I understand there are consequences but it has to end somewhere :? Guess it is in the Courtroom. This is why we are here to encourage folks to payback the LEGAL and ILLEGAL lenders the right way the best way they can. If they refuse to cooperate PDLOwner what do you suggest??

ok, i understand that....but if you have a customer who has had a loan with you for 2 years and has never been late and has always paid and one day they walk in and say they can't pay. BOOM you turn into an unreasonable monster and treat them like a criminal. i was getting myself ready to pay these loans off when son got sick. its not like i wanted to default. if that is what i wanted to do then i would have defaulted a long time ago. it was pure and simple bad luck at a bad point in my life and medicine and rent had to come first.

I'll respond to Guest first.

Did you explain the situation to the store manager?
Has the Store Manager been in place for a substantial length of time?
Did you explain your situation to the person at the Corp Office?

I ask these questions because I can assure you that we and previous companies that I have worked for, would look at the big picture of your situation and have some form of a solution for you. Contrary to what you may think, even though we are in business to make money, there are some issues more important than profit and we need to be able to sleep at night with our decisions.

any,

That is a tough one, because I do not know how they work thier collections. The next thing that I would do is research. This means to take an hour or so to find the name of the president of the company. Once you have this, I would write a letter explaining your situation and the treatment that you have received in full detail. Remember, this needs to be a politically correct and professional letter so stick to the facts! Taking this approach should garner some positive results.

FYI, keep copies of all communications so that you can send copies to the DFI if needed!!

ok, i will try again. yes, i did explain my situation to the store manager and was referred to corporate and all i got was a : oh too bad....you need to learn to be more responsible...blah blah blah. i will beg money from a relative before i ever go for another pdl. i would rather starve

Has this manager been in the store very long or are they new? This goes back to looking at the big picture. When you called Corp, did you speak to someone in collections? Is it Check Mate or Loan Mart that is giving you the hard time?

Well unfortunatelly this happens all too often. The only thing I suggest you do is wait it out, and try to call back to corprorate when the situation cools off. Maybe you will speak to someoen a little more professional.

I would definately do more research and find out who the VP of the company is, also file complaints with the BBB. Also you can get 7 on your side involved. I know it might not be much, but sounds like they are not leaving you much of an option.

ok thanks for your input. one day this will be behind me and i will haved learned a very hard expensive lesson.


as for the manager i don't know how long he had been there. usually dealt with the store employees & it is checksmart giving me the most trouble.

Unfortunately this does seem to be the norm and not the exception. I wonder how some of these people sleep at night. Its sad that guest was a good customer for 2 years and they wont cut him any slack. If guest really had this loan for two years just think about the money they have made. So sad.

Not fair especially when the economy has faced such harsh financial times in its economic crisis. Well I will say do not let your family go hungry for a payday loan. Put your priorities first, I know they were there in your time of need. But it seems when you need them the most they are not truly forgiving to honest hard working folk. Dont mean to stroke the violin but geez, enough already. Stay strong guest and hang in there. keep us posted :wink:

Call CheckSmart at:

800-837-0381

ask for Ted Saunders - CEO

If nothing else, you will get to the "Gate Keeper" aka his Executive Assistant!

Thanks PDLOwner :D

ok, thanks for the help