The Downward Spiral Of Pay Day Loans – Update.
When I first wrote The Downward Spiral of Pay Day Loans I had no idea of the response I would get. I was expecting the odd comment from a friend here and there, but I was overwhelmingly wrong. Over 3,000 people have read my blog, and something I never expected, I have been approached by a national newspaper and a local newspaper who both want to share my story and my experience with the public.
I’m still getting negative comments, in fact, I’m going to share this one with you:
“So you think you’ve had it hard because you owed a few quid to a pay day loan company and had a bit of trouble paying it back. You haven’t got any idea how hard some people’s lives are, living hand to mouth trying to keep a roof over their heads, working all hours and still never having any money for food let alone a tyre for their car. Get a grip you spoilt little brat. Posting blogs on Facebook, surely if your mum is in your friends list then she’s bound to read it and bail you out. Why else would you post it!”
Firstly, £2,000 is not “just a couple of quid” and I do know how hard peoples lives are, trying to keep a roof over their heads. My parents house was repossessed and we were homeless at one point. I know you’re probably thinking, “Well, surely that would have taught you a lesson not to get in debt?” It did in a way, I’ve always known not to get a credit card/store cards because of this. I never thought for one second that PDLs would get me in trouble, I was 19, naive and care free.
Secondly, I work all hours and still have no money – my average hours are 45 – 50 hours a week, so you cannot tell me what I don’t work for my money. I am in no way a spoilt brat, and yes, my mum is on my friends list on Facebook, but I did not expect her to bail me out. I was willing to pay it all back on my own, I had monthly payments set up and I would have happily paid it back by myself. My main aim writing this blog is to get my story out so that people won’t fall in to the same trap as I did. I needed to tell my friends and family what my situation was, because I was starting to feel that I couldn’t cope, and I feel a hell of a lot better for telling them. After I replied to this person, she proceeded to call me The C Word. Unbelievable. I can’t say that I wasn’t expecting negative comments, but the person who commented this seems very ignorant to me, it doesn’t matter how old you are, being in debt is a daunting thing and it’s horrible no matter how much you owe. A few people have shared their stories with me and have told me that I am not alone in this. It’s crazy how many people are in debt, it seems like the norm these days.
After writing my second blog, I sat down and went through my bank statements since 2009 to see how much I have borrowed and how much I have paid back. I was sickened by what I saw. Since 2009, I have borrowed a little shy of £8,000 and I have paid back just below £14,000. That’s £6,000, to put it bluntly, I have pissed up the wall. I started to think what I could have done with that £14k and I wish I didn’t. I could have got a new car, I could have gone to so many gigs and festivals, I could have gone on holiday, I could have got a new wardrobe for every season and more! I lost out on this money because of my stupidity. If only I didn’t take out that first loan…If only
It’s only been 10 days since I’ve had no money and I still haven’t taken out a PDL. My phone’s been disconnected because I haven’t paid the bill, but I refuse to go down that route again. I am not going to let myself down as well as everyone else. I’ve got 19 days until pay day and this seems like the biggest test of my life, time is going so slow. I really do feel like a drug addict that’s gone cold turkey. I’ve been invited to the pub a few times and declined every time. I’ve had several invites for friends birthdays, work nights out and Halloween for the next month but I can’t. I’m not going to give in and get a loan. I think I have finally grown a back bone. I’m not going to lie, the temptation is there, on average, I get 4 text messages a day from PDL companies claiming that I can get up to £1,000 in my account within the hour and I get approx 15 e-mails from different companies offering the same. I go onto auto-pilot when I receive them, they get deleted as soon as I see them.
I’m proud of myself but then again, I still have 19 days to go…
The Downward Spiral of Pay Day Loans 
Well done you mate. You can do it. Debt is a horror that is so easy to fall into. Anyone who leaves negative comments is someone who hasn’t taken stock of their own lives. So much is bought now on HP (never mind payday loans/bank loans), that people don’t realise how much they owe until they loose a job and then the reality hits hard and no mercy is shown by the money lenders. Stick with it mate. 19 days and you will have your life back and a brand new chapter of your life to start. It is one of those lessons that we all seem to have to learn nowdays. Good luck and let us know how you get on xxx
thank you so much for that comment, really does mean a lot that people are routing for me 🙂 xx
Mate the person who wrote that reply proberly works at wonga.i first went down the slippery slope at your age got out then found it to easy again and am now paying for it.iv got a house,wife,kid regardless of age it’s to easy to get one and to hard to pay it back.all the best and try staying away
Working for an ‘ethical’ bank, in a call centre, I see the raw end of the deal that many pay day loan customers suffer. It’s awful having customers bawling their eyes out down the phone when these glorified loan sharks take all of their benefits and tax credits in one fell swoop. You’re fighting a tough battle, that many greatly underestimate, in trying to sort your own financial situation out. But it’s made easier when you consider that, yeah, these are huge short term pains but in the long term you’ll be so thankful that you took the hit.
We’ve chatted about this anyway, no use repeating myself, but I do think that PDLs should not be allowed to advertise in TV/radio/paper media. Cigarettes etc aren’t allowed to advertise, so why should PDLs?! They’re so bad for your health too!! And the time of day they’re on … whilst you’re eating dinner with the TV on …
I totally sympathise with you. Have been there myself with credit cards, overdrafts and bank loans. Was so easy to get them. Ended up with a personal bankruptcy (was in up to about 30K of debt). It’s tough, but keep in there, you WILL get out of it.
The problem with payday loan companies is that they don’t do proper checks,when a customer first contacts these payday loan companies, the payday loan providers hould go through their bank statements to establish if the customer can actually afford the loan.
@kevin That’s not the problem with payday loans, the problem is the rates are too high and then they roll it over to the next month.
If you’re short of cash for an emergency, like a boiler breakdown or some such thing, you need an option to pay it back over a longer time period so it’s affordable, not all in one go out of the following pay packet meaning you’re just as short the following month, well worse, because of the interest too. It’s for this reason, I can’t see ANY situation a pay day loan would be of any use to anyone, and why I believe they should be banned.
@Ami
It’s a tough fight, and sometimes you do lose a battle, but you just keep getting back on the wagon until you win the war. Well done to you for writing this blog, and the best of luck to you. In one sense, I am jealous of you – you will have learnt your lesson long before you get a mortgage and have kids…