PDL Game Plan

Unfortunately the Idaho AG is much more interested in chasing debt settlement companies out of the state than it is in doing anything about payday lenders. (Probably because Sonic Cash is less than a mile from their office and employs a lot of people.)

Fortunately, you can do this yourself.

First, you need to close the bank account they are debiting. Forget stop payments, "hard blocks" an all the other nonsense. Those just generate fees for the banks and ipdl's are experts at working around them. Close the account and open a new one at a DIFFERENT bank. (Some banks think it's a courtesy to you if they let the pdl's hit your new account.) There are template letters on this site about revoking your ACH authorization that you should fax to the lenders AFTER you do this step.

Second, familiarize yourself with Idaho law regarding pdl's. Since the AG probably won't do more for you than send out a form letter, you need to be your own AG. Collectors will act like they know the law and try to scare or trick you into paying them. But if you know the law you can't be scared so easy. Lots of resources on this site for state laws.

Third, avoid their phone calls as much as possible. They all use predictive dialers and the computers are recording whether the call connects and how long it lasts. It doesn't matter if you are begging, yelling or reasoning with them. If you talk to them, the computer will keep your number in the queue. If they can't reach you, they'll quickly move on to the next victim.

Fourth, figure out what you owe under your state laws and only be willing to pay them that. When you're ready, you call them and make the offer. Don't back down and don't let them rattle you.

Best of luck!