Wonga, Wishful Thinking and Worse Decisions (Financially Irresponsible Since 2003 - Part 2)

Last time we left things in 2006.

I was pregnant.

And Lloyds TSB and I were entering the final stages of what can only be described as a spectacularly toxic relationship.

They had effectively love bombed me into a shit load of debt, distracted me with pretty silver debit cards and benefits I wouldn't use and then after flogging me this PPI package on top of the loan I really didn't need, told me I couldn't have a "repayment holiday" for reasons that didn't make sense to me.

I do of course take ownership for spending the money I was "lent" but money was being thrown at me left, right and centre that I simply had no way of repaying. Yes, I shouldn't have taken it and I really shouldn't have spent it, but at no point had I produced any paperwork or payslips with the proof that I would have the ability to repay this.

So really, we were all as delusional as each other.

For the next year I just made do with what I didn't have, I made repayments when I could, missed them when I couldn't and pretty much ignored the letters from Lloyds as you would do a clingy ex. What I did do though was open another bank account, I started a relationship with Halifax and we hit it off from the get go. They didn't seem to know or care about what was happening with Lloyds and I certainly wasn't going to tell them, so it wasn't an honest relationship, but we were both doing our best.

Clearly I spent most of the money on fake tan

Then, in true ex boyfriend style, Lloyds wrote to me offering me advice to consolidate my missed loan payment debt along with my overdraft (which I had increased many times) debt and all the late payment debts with, wait for it now.....another loan! I was appalled, disgusted, horrified, but also absolutely thrilled and went right away and signed the paperwork, netting myself an additional £1,000 for my troubles.

Of course, this had to end one day and a year later Lloyds took the first (very overdue first) step in our official breakup. They asked me to return my card to the branch.

This felt dramatic.

What would happen after I handed it over? Would we hug?

Would I still get the odd "You up?" message in the style of an advert for an interest free balance transfer?

For the sake of respect on both our parts, I decided to just cut the card in half instead. It seemed a more dignified end to the shit show.

And a new outfit every week

During my sons younger years I would work around his nursery/school schedule in various part time jobs, such as tea lady at a hospital, receptionist at a sunbed shop and for three awful weeks, as a telemarketer for a catalogue that I am pretty certain was a massive scam (and I was rubbish at because I didn't think they should sign up either.) Due to bringing in a low wage and having a child, I became entitled to the tax credits. I very much liked this as it was just me being given money, money I didn't have to give back, or so I thought.....

The tax credit system worked in what I can only explain as a wildly optimistic fashion.

You would fill in a paper form with a pen (imagine) predicting what you would earn over the next year.

They then decided how much money to give you.

Simple.

At the end of the tax year they would write to you again and tell you, based on the tax you'd paid, if they had under or over paid you. And then ask you to repeat the process of filling in the form again.

When my son was a bit older I started to work quite a bit more so when I had the request through for the next year entitlement, I told them my predicted earnings of £15,000 and popped the paperwork back in the post. I knew that earning a bit more meant I may not be entitled to as much but I didn't mind. I was going legit.

And unfortunately all the new clothes were destroyed by the fake tan

A few weeks later I got their reply stating my weekly payment moving forward would be increased by quite a lot. Like by hundreds more. Confused I continued reading to find I had missed a zero off the form.

Instead of predicting my earnings at £15,000 for the next year,

I had written….

£1,500.

In the spirit of being legit as I now was, I called up the helpline to tell them of this (my) error.

The wait for an advisor to answer the phone was ages.

So.

I rang off.

Maybe it was destiny, maybe it was delusion, but either way I made another dreadful decision.

A few years later, this caught up with me and to this day I am still repaying £10.00 a month to HMRC.

So, now the bank had broken up with me and HMRC uncovered my (unintentional) deceit I found myself at a bit of a loss, literally.

Enter the puppets.

Enter WONGA!

Payday loans were horrendous.

They were predatory.

They were irresponsible.

They were, quite frankly

Brilliant!

You just popped on a website, typed in any old shite and within a few short hours the requested amount would magically appear in your bank account.

You would have to agree to pay it back by a certain date, usually with an obscene amount of interest added on, but you didn't care. You were going out with your mates.

I mean, none of it was funny

I am sure there is a small amount of people who would take out a payday loan and pay it back on the day it was due, with their wages and that would be that. They would be ever so grateful for the assistance and declare they wouldn't do it again, this was just a one time thing.

Then there is the rest of us, who would pay it back with another payday loan, then potter on back to the first provider to pay off the second. And so on and so on.

It was basically financial pass-the-parcel.

Money just bounced around in circles while I stood in the middle pretending everything was under control.

The choice was immense as well. Daytime TV was a buffet for them, and I visited all varieties. Wonga (the OG, as mentioned previously), satsuma (ironic as I hate oranges), Payday UK, Payday Express, Lending Stream, Pounds to Pocket, Quick Quid....THE LIMIT DOES NOT EXIST!

One day (shockingly) I got in such a mess with the situation as I had requested a payment extension on one of them, which was agreed, but then they took the money anyway. After a lot of discussions and tears on the phone, they suggested I go to The Money Shop, to talk to someone face to face. Off I went on the bus to explain to this boy, younger but probably much more mature than me, what had happened. He understood and said he would look into it, whilst his colleague, in the literal style of Fagan from Oliver Twist swaggered over, eyes on my watch and suggested I leave that there with them in place of the missed payment.

I burst into tears, again, asked the manchild if I could leave (with my watch on my wrist) which he agreed to as they had reversed the payment if l agreed to never ask again for an extension. But another loan? Of course I was more than welcome to!

This unfortunate series of events continued for many years, because that's what debt does, it spirals away and takes you along for the ride.

One overdraft, one loan, one payday lender.

Turns to a false sense of security, tiny terms and conditions and massive APR repercussions.

And as in most circumstances, it gets worse before it gets better.

Read the final part here:

www.foreverceremonies.co.uk

Credit Cards, CCJs And Coming Back From It. (Financially Irresponsible Since 2003 – Part 3)

So, we last left me in an incredibly unhealthy relationship with various payday loan companies. It was at a point that I wasn't even seeing any of the money anymore. I would literally owe one £300 (on what had originally been a loan of around £240), so I would borrow £300 from another company to pay the first one. And round and round we would go. These were the days before online banking, so if you wanted to know anything about what was in your bank you either went to the cash point, or called t