The No Money/Want Money Circle (Other Personal Loans)

Member Name: leeanne

Product:	Other Personal Loans
Date:	28/10/03 (3789 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast Cash

Disadvantages: Repayments, Easy To Get Into Debt

The loan company I am writing about is Provident Personal Credit.

I first got introduced to them in 2001. A friend of mine, who is older than me, said that she had done a runner from paying this company. In your first year with this company you are allowed up to £1000. At first they start you off with a few hundred and they increase your limit if you pay on time and behave. She would keep getting a few hundred here and there, and would clear it well. Then she went for the £1000, knew she was moving house and never paid the money back. As far as I know she has got away with it, but it?s hard to believe.

Anyway enough of my stories and on with the facts. By the way, the above story has nothing to do with me using this company ? honest.

At that time my credit rating was perfect as far as I knew. I was a student, had a bit of credit, but was able to pay the minimum payments all right. Sometimes money was a bit tight, but I got along not bad.

I phoned one of the local offices of Provident to enquire how I would go about getting any money from them and was told that a representative would have to call at the house, and I would be allowed £200 no problems as a new customer. I said I would phone back if I was interested, but don?t particularly like the idea of strangers poking around my house. As far as I knew I didn?t leave any contact details, but yet later in the week someone came to the door.

It was basically a canvasser. She offered me £50 worth of high street vouchers for £2.50 a week. This was for 25 weeks, so it would cost me £62.50 for to pay £50 worth + interest for basically ½ a year. I didn?t see the interest, but the fact I could buy new trainers, a few Cd?s or DVDs or whatever really.

Provident seems to specialise in either money or vouchers. The vouchers are valid in a variety of shops. Some are

Comet
Woolworth?s
Index
Argos
Shoe express
Farm foods
JJB Sports
Littlewoo
ds
B & Q
BHS
Marks & Spencer?s
Pc World

I think there are about 40 shops that accept them. It might not sound that much, but they are main high street retailers.

So from a measly £2.50 a week I basically became addicted. So what was the most I was paying out per week? £66! Yes that?s high, but when you think about I was only earning £500 a month and I was paying £264 to them. It became a vicious circle. I would finish paying off a loan, think ?well I was able to afford the payments so I might as well take the same amount out again and live like luxury?. After paying out that much a month and also all the other household bills, then food wasn?t exactly fancy. So I found myself taking the odd £100 from them and eating on the gourmet foods for a few weeks. The food disappeared quickly enough, but the bills are left.

So how does the company operate? Well I suppose the words Loan Shark applies to them. You don?t have to have good credit or anything to be with them. As far as I know they don?t even do credit checks. Because they lent to anyone and everyone, their interest is quite steep. If you take any money from them, you can choose to spread the payments over a different amount of weeks, so the longer you choose to pay them, the less amount you pay per week, but the higher the interest. A small summary below. The amounts are based of a loan of £100

Weeks Weekly Payment Payable
20 £6.50 £130
30 £5.00 £150
54 £3.00 £162
80 £2.20 £176

The vouchers aren?t as high interest, but are only available in 2 different choices

Weeks Weekly Payment Payable
25 £5.00 £125
50 £2.70 £135

Looking at the 20 week statistics they don?t look that bad, but I used to take on 54 weeks mostly,
and you can see what interest you will pay back if your perhaps take £500.

An agent comes to your home once a week on the same day at the same time. You can choose to pay it fortnightly or even monthly if you want, they are happy to accommodate, as they suck up to get the custom. Your agent will offer you more money now and again, as your rate goes up every so often. For example they might offer you £22 of credit per week and if you look at the table above it could get you £1000 if you pay over 80 weeks or as little as £400 if you pay over 30 weeks, but they put your rate up and might offer your £30 worth of credit. This goes up and up. Also the agents earn commission for sales, so they probably don?t care if you get deeper into debt!

I wish I could say I had a good reason to take the money, but I didn?t. I just liked the feeling of having money and spending it on expensive goods for myself and family. I once took out £400 to ?have a laugh with?. I went shopping in Edinburgh, took my fiancé out for a meal and had fun the next few days eating out and going places.

So am I still in this money trap? Yes!! I have perhaps 5 or 6 loans in my name, with the last one being finished in June. I have promised myself that I will take no more out, as it is mentally draining me. I pay £204 per month in total and I am looking to June when I can have £204 spare from my pay each month. Then I can live in luxury, because I can afford to.

I wouldn?t discourage anyone from using this service, as it can be handy to get cash quick sometimes, but you should use this if absolutely necessary. Provident also encourages you from time to time with tantalising letters, but don?t give in. Once I clear all my balance with them, they say I will be eligible for £2600 worth of money, so if I ask them for £2600 in one go, they will just hand it over! Very tempting, but very crazy!

If anyone else has used this service or another like it, please feel free to
leave a comment telling me your views.

Thanks for the read.

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