Scared to death...been losing sleep over this

Please do not feel ashamed. We have all been where you are now. You have come to the right place, we do not judge here, but we help you get out of this mess. I see you are in CA. I will post the laws for your state. On your store fronts, if they are members of the CFSA they must give you an extended payment plan. EPP. You need to go in person and request this, and it must be done prior to defaulting. It allows you to pay in 4 installments with no intrest accruing.Please try to figure out and post how much in total you have repaid to each lender, That is important.

You will find the Payday loan laws for California here (just select your state),
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/paydayloan/explain-pdls-laws.html

Hello- thank you for a swift response. I did look over the laws for my state in the "Payday Loan Help Wiki" section, but I'm not quite savvy to what it all means. I see you can only have 1 loan at a time- it makes me wonder how these places ( at least the storefronts ) kept allowing me to take out more. Don't they access Teletrack each time?

With that information, I'm still not quite sure how to make it work for me. As for finding out which ones are part of the CFSA, how and where do I find that information?

Whereupon it says "criminal action prohibited", what exactly does that mean? Does that mean they cannot sue/collections/arrest warrant, etc? As for all the storefronts, those loans are for 2 weeks only. So each time I borrow $255, the $300 is immediately due 2 weeks later. I have to reloan in order to get $255 back again, so those loans carry no balance. They are paid off every 14 days- I just simply reloan them. It's the internet based ones that are all running on those killer interest and rollover charges.

All of your store fronts are members of the CFSA except for Ca. Budget. I just checked for you.

Thank you so very much! A few of those storefronts I have been a customer of for 2-3 years without any defaults or problems, so hopefully they will work with me. I'm not exactly sure how I approach them about this. I'm sorry, but this situation has me so overwhelmed I literally need someone to hold my hand. How do I approach them, what do I say? How does the process work for installment payments?

And my biggest fear factor...will this in any way show up on my credit report?

I am working on tackling the most exact numbers I can to post on my how much I've paid to the internet companies- those are going to be the biggest, most difficult monsters to tackle, I can tell already. Will I have to close my bank account? I have a second non-linked bank account that I can safely move my paycheck over to before the ACH's hit, but I bank with BOFA and they are notorious for those $35 overdraft fees. How should I start approaching that situation? I can safely move money out of that account and into another, but it will be a couple of weeks to set up a direct deposit of my paychecks into the new account and to make sure all my important credit bills are updated with new debit information for the new account before I shut down the current one.

Sorry if I am getting ahead of myself.

If they are members, and they are, they have to evoke the EPP. Dont be ashamed, just speak to them and tell them that that is what you need to do. This is no longer about them, it is about you.

Amaranth welcome and know there are great people here and wonderful shoulders to lean on....I am new myself and I was like you desperate for help or another PDL--i accidentally found this and posted my situation...that morning my coffee looked much better than my life and life for me was heading towards suicide....good luck and welcome.....

oh by the way the first Saturday after posting my teenager and I slept in...we were getting up at 4 and 5--7 am rolled around and we were just thinking about getting up.....

Okay, starting to go thru bank statements to find out exactly what to date I have paid on some of the internet loans. Thus far:

MTE Financial/Instant Cash Loan Till Payday = Loan of $400. I have currently paid $945 towards it.

(Omigod, when I break down the numbers, it really is scary! I can't believe I've been doing this to myself....)

First Bank of Delaware - loan of $1500. Have paid $636.62 and loan isn't scheduled to be paid off until 5/23!

500FastCash loan = loan of $350. Have paid $315. Still have one "rollover/automatic advance of $105 left before it starts the $50 increment pay-downs )

Its My Payday/National Oppurtunities - $500 loaned, no payments made yet. Payment of $125 scheduled for 3/14

Cash First LLC - $300 loaned, no payments made yet, payment of $90 scheduled for 3/14


Help!

@lovedalehpbear

Thank you very much. I am so overwhelmed and so frightened about what is going to happen this Friday/payday. I am SO glad I stumbled across this website. I am already learning things and the friendly community is already starting to help me calm down a little.

Still freaking out, but I am so thankful for the support!

We've all been there.... I thought I was going to loose my mind. That is the true shame in these PDL's. The fee's that they charge are so high that people tend to have to take out another PDL just to pay the other PDL's fees. Thus the "snowball effect". The other shame is that a lot of the PDL's are owned by the same company and you might end up with several outstanding loans owned by the same people. If they were responsible lenders they would see that there was a problem.

Last night I was thinking that they wouldn't be so bad if the fees were not open ended. If you could borrow $300 and them pay back even 6 $90 fees and be done then they would have made a gracious plenty off of you but you know after that 6th payment you are out from under the obligation. It is no more than sheer greed on someones part to keep this loan sharking up.

So rest easy... it will take some time but you will make it through. We all either have or are starting to. And the group here is wonderful to work with. I feel like I have made several friends where a month ago I felt I had no friends.

One more thing. My motto is "They Can't Eat Me" so just tell yourself that when they are calling you. They can bug you to death but they can't eat you!

Thank you angell :)

Anywise, I am reading more and more through the forums, and I came across one topic that stated that MTE ( whom one of my loans is thru ) is illegal, and accordingly, I am only responsible for the initial $400 I was loaned? I still haven't paid that damn loan off, and I've already paid $945. If all that is the case- what do I do? Am I just out of the money? Can I legally try to make them cease and desist withdrawing further payments? How should I be handling this?

It looks to me like I need to start preparing my "safe" checking account and start putting in to have my paycheck deposited there and updating my legit credit companies to the change, because it looks to me like I'm going to have to close my primary checking account down in the near future.

I am so glad I purposely "fudged" the phone numbers of all my references on these loans...

The only way any of these companies will stop debiting is to close your account. If you can not do that you need to put a hard debit block on the account. Stopping payment will nit work. These places have so many names they will just go in under a different name.Change your direct deposit to go into a new account. They will not stop until the account is closed. Yes you grossly overpaid them. I am not sure if anyone has gotten a refund from MTE , but I would doubt it. They are just so illegal.

The advice I had gotten was the same you will see on many posts and that is to close your checking account. You will need to make sure that the account is closed and that ACH withdraws will not force the account reopen. With my bank, BOA, they closed it and change the code to credits only. That way no debits are able to get through.

I overpaid MTE as well, not by nearly as much as you, and I sent them the letter. Within a week I received an e-mail from their compliance department offering to waive the remaining $30 fee if I paid them the $100 towards the principal. I had paid them $465 on a $200 loan already. PDL's are illegal in my state. I didn't respond to their "generous" offer. Then they e-mailed me letting me know that they were turning me over to collections. I told them I will forward their e-mail, as I had the previous e-mail, to my AG. I haven't heard anything back from them yet. I don't think they have called any of my references.

I also sent two other letters out and one I had pverpaid and one I still feel like I owe $240. I have not heard anything from these yet and it has been a month.

Kashzan helped me the entire way through this and is a great source of information. I couldn't have done this without Kash!!!

I'm sorry if I keep repeating the same questions, but I am trying to understand everything to make sure I don't put myself in a position worse off.

If I close down my bank account to keep companies like MTE loans out, what kind of retalliation can they take? Can they send me to collections? Can they negatively ding my credit report? Or are they just empty threats and bullying and will eventually go away because sadly, they're getting new customers to rip off every day?

Of all the internet companies I listed that I currently have loans through, are any legit to where they can and will honor payment plans/work on payments with you?

Do I just close my account on these companies, or do I send them cease and desist letters first? I want to know the exact steps I need to take and in exactly what order because I don't want to shut down my bank account, and then end up being legally liable for now "cheating" these companies out of money I had signed contracts saying I would pay them.

MTE is illegal. There is not much they can do. We have all gone thru this. It is scary, but remember it is all idle threats. No one will put you in jail, or try to arrest you or report you to the FBI. You never contact them before your account is closed. If they sense you are taking action, they will go in like gang busters and take everything you have. we do advocate paying back the principle on these ipdls.
I love your avatar.

Hello Amaranth. You really should close your account and get a paper paycheck from your HR. Just tell them there has been some illegal activity on your account. Next ask BOA to put a hard block on that old account. This way you will have your whole paycheck and you. can take steps to get out of this. Go to each of the storefronts 2 days before they are due and ask them for the payment plan. This way you can pay them in 4 payments without reloaning and getting in deeper. After your account is closed then send the internet payday loans some of the letters other members here have used. The loans such as Bank of Delaware and Think Cash loans you will have to pay, they are funded by a bank and are legal. They are the ones that could ruin your good credit. The payday loan companies usually do not report to the big three agencies. They may report to teletrak but that would just make it so you couldnt get more payday loans, which is probably a good idea. If you PM Volleyballmom she can send you the letters to send out to the payday places. You should also send something to your HR revoking any wage assignments you may or may not have signed. Once you get that money in your hands you can start to deal with this one thing at a time. And dont beat yourself up, we have all been there and there is hope. Good Luck

Star, Amaranth does not use BOA, that is angells bank.I have already sent amaranth the letter. She should have it in her pm box.

If you call Bank of Delaware and Think Cash you can talk to them about making payments by money order and let them know you had to close your account. If you communicate with both of these and make payments you should be ok. The illegal payday internet lenders will be mad when you close your account but they cant hurt you. If you work with the storefronts on payment plan they will not affect your credit negatively either. Hope all this helps.

Great advice Star about the wage assignment letters. I had forgotten all about that.Actualy great advice all around.

Thanks Kash. Home sick today so got the people confused :? Thanks for getting the letters to her. You are all so helpful and kind. I saw the breaking news on your gov, wow, sucks to be him today!

IS that a pun "SUCKS to be him today" LOL
I hope you feel better soon.

I agree on that about the Gov.. just when I think I have made some very bad choices someone comes along and makes mine look pretty good!

That is so true Angell. Compared to Spitzer my day seems pretty good.

Agh! Just contacted Bank of America because I wanted to order checks for that secondary checking account I have in prepartion of shutting down my primary, and I found out that they closed it last month due to lack of activity. Yeeeaaarrrggghhh >_<

So I just had them do an application over the phone to reopen another account, which will take a few days. But at least I will have a new account by next week that no evil, money-mongering pdl will have their hands on.

THANK YOU for the advice about NOT notifying MTE or others about my intentions. That makes perfect sense that they would only then swoop in and grab as much of my money as they could before they lost access to it.

I will go to the storefronts by Wednesday to invoke EPP, but it looks like I'll be stuck with handing out cash to the illegal internet pdls for at least one more paycheck, as now I have to wait for my new account to be re-established.

I'm a little nervous about getting my paychecks re-routed to either paper or the new bank account. My company has over 5000 employees on site, so changes to payroll tend to get mukked up, and I can't exactly afford to have a "whoops" on their end, because I am fanatical about making sure all my bills pertaining to credit are paid on time.

Thank you kashzan for the letter sample. I see I will have to do a little math when filling in the blanks. Be warned I might have a couple of further questions about filling it out, or might even have you "proofread" it to make sure it looks good. Also, should I be mailing these out by postal mail to the company's address? Or fax/email? Should I mail it certified or something to prove ( in case it does come down to blows ) that I notified them and that they received it at their office?

And also, I do agree on paying the principals back on these pdls. I do feel a bit guilty saying, "nope, ain't paying no more", but I think at over $900, I've already paid MTE the principal TWICE.

LOL Kash didnt mean the pun but it is funny! Angel you are so right, his "mistake" makes ours look pretty good. Amanth, can you put a deposit only block on your account? That means money can go in but nothing can pull it out. I am not really sure how exactly it works but I have heard others talk about it. You cant write checks or go to ATM I think you have to go in to get money but it does prevent ACH withdrawels from going through. There are others here with a lot more knowledge on the subject. Take care all.