It is astonishing that the only accountability for the gambling world that exists in the UK seems to be these slogans!!!!!

There is/are no recourse, no claims, no regulations, no affordability checks, no question of where you obtained the money before you placed your bet, only that you have money to bet with. So, are they are not responsible for you gambling away your rent, food money, utility bill money, kids’ clothes, transport money, etc? or is it ok for you to now have to rely on hand outs, subs or worse still, loans?

Do you think this should change?

Do you think this is Right?

I want to start a petition to take to the government to tighten up the governance and accountability placed on online/offline gambling companies that allow UK citizens to gamble in the UK.

Help me by contacting me with a short positive comment starting with a “YES”, that we can take to our leaders in the capital, to get this changed.

Alternatively, if you think they are fully governed, responsible and accountable, then comment with a “NO” first.

Unmissable Truths About Short Term Loans in 2018?

If you are thinking about taking out a short term loan or even a payday loan in 2018 then here are unmissable truths about short term loans in 2018 and why you need to read this.

Have you ever taken out a Short term Loan or Payday Loan?

If your answer is yes then you’ll probably have seen the new craze for “claiming back” the interest on those loans and even being able to charge the loan company interest!!!!!

It seems that there were companies out there, that made it very easy for you to take a loan out time and time again and they were acting irresponsibly but ask yourself, what was the alternative?

Anyone who took out more than 1 loan is now being given the chance to claim back some money, irrelevant of whether you were sold the loan irresponsibly. (see the claims sites that tell you what to say and how to say it)

Loan Companies are more reluctant to lend to you.

Short term lenders are receiving a high number of  fraudulent (and legitimate) claims, because people are stating that they were given a loan in the past but shouldn’t have been, so now these loan companies are not going to lend to you.

So all the people who are now visiting these “advice” & claims sites like www.debtcamel.co.uk to get “advice” are being told to fill out a templated form  (whether the form is truthful or not) and send it off to any loan company you’ve have a loan with in the last x number of years.

Where do you go from here?

So, now that all these short term and payday lenders are being hit with claims (irrelevant whether the applicant is telling the truth or lying) they will have to re-think who they lend to. This means that you could now be turned down for all types of legal lending available to you. (unless you have a friend who is willing to assist)

This leaves you the alternative………. illegal lending. Illegal lenders are still very much in operation but these people will not offer you an alternative payment schedule that works for you, they won’t freeze the already uncapped interest, they don’t care if you are going to enter into a DMP, IVA or bankruptcy and they won’t just send you letters to ask for their money, they are more…….  hands on!!!!

So think about what you are doing to this industry

I know you all think that short term and payday loan lenders shouldn’t be able to charge extortionate rates of interest and we’d all be better off without them but, in truth, the interest rates are higher because of a number of things, not least the cost of defaults and claims against them (Real or scam) and so, we actually need, them whether we like it or not because the alternative doesn’t bare thinking about

Solid Advice on a Payday Loan

The ability to get cash quickly can be really important during these hard economic times, which may help resolve any financial issue that you are having. However, if you’re not able to understand what getting a payday loan is all about, you may get yourself into trouble. Here you will find suggestions that will make help you understand the process

There are many situations where a payday loan is your only option. Look into other options first; you might be able to save money by avoiding payday loans. Ask people you know well if they are willing to lend you the money first.

Look before you leap

Before you settle on a payday loan company, research all of them beforehand. It is not a good idea to select a company just because it has ads that makes it appear to be trustworthy. Take time to do some online research, looking for customer reviews and testimonials before you give out personal information. If you use a company with a great reputation, the process will go smoothly.

Better options than Payday Loans

Hold off from running to the nearest local payday loan company when you think you need fast cash. While you may drive past them often, or see their adverts online all the time, there may be better options if you take the time to look. You can save a lot of money by looking up a few things when you have free time.

Be sure you understand any hidden fees that may be involved. There is no indignity in asking pointed questions. You have a right to know about all the charges involved. There are many horror stories about people who signed the loan documents before they learned how much the loan would cost. Avoid this situation by reading all the fine print and ask questions if you are unclear.

Research your Payday Loan

When you’re choosing which payday loan company to go with, make sure you do your research. There are a myriad of options available in this field, and you want to ensure that you are dealing with a legitimate company that has procedures in place to ensure the loan is fair and well managed. Look up reviews on various lenders from people who have used them in the past.

If you have financial trouble due to payday loans you had in the past, there are agencies that can assist you with that. Through their free service of negotiation with your lender to achieve lower interest rates, or perhaps a consolidation of the debt, these companies can help remove you from the loan cycle.

A poor credit score usually won’t prevent you from taking out a payday loan. Lots of people who could use a payday loan don’t bother because of their poor credit. But, many lenders will provide loans if employment can be proven.

Budget for your loan

Figure out exactly how much you’ll be paying for your payday loan. These lenders charge extremely high interest as well as origination and administrative fees. However, this isn’t the only thing that providers can hit you with. They can also charge you with large fees for every single loan that is taken out. These administration fees often are hidden in small print.

Doubtlessly, payday loans are helpful for people who don’t have the money to pay their bills or cover an emergency. You do, however, need to understand everything about these dangerous financial instruments before committing yourself to one. Use these tips to make informed decisions.

Debt Management Plan, IVA or Bankrutpcy

Ok, you have taken out a loan or two, you were managing fine (sort of) until one day, thump!, redundancy hits, you are now looking for work but nothing is going your way.

3 months down the line, your credit cards are maxed to cover the loans, you are struggling to make ends meet and the loan/credit companies just don’t seem to care!!!!

5 months in, still no job, you don’t sleep, you have enough chasing letters to build a house (which you think might come in handy when i lose mine!!)

What are the Options?

Talk to the credit card and loan companies and ask if you can freeze the interest and pay back a reasonable amount until you are back on your feet, but, if they won’t listen and threaten debt collection then some of your options are;

Debt Management Plan

This is where a Debt management company will help you compile a list of all the people you owe money to and send a letter/email to each one asking if you can pay a reduced amount until the debt is paid off. Seems like a good option, but no, the CC/Loan companies are not bound to agree with your terms and will still come after the debt, mainly because of 3 reasons

1. a DMP is not legally binding by either party
2. the CC/Loan companies won’t accept the low monthly repayments offered
3. the CC/Loan companies know that these plans are mostly abused by people who will just continue to rack up more debt and they’ll never get paid

My advice is, unless you can offer approx £20 per month to each CC/ short term loan company as repayment and don’t take out any other loans, then they won’t stop coming after you with debt collection.

Also beware, if you do take out a DMP, make sure you are not charged a fee for setting it up!!!!

IVA

An Individual Voluntary Arrangement ( IVA ) is an agreement with your creditors to pay all or part of your debts. You agree to make regular payments to an insolvency practitioner, who will divide this money between your creditors.

IVA’s are better because they are binding and give you and the CC/Loan companies confidence that you are prepared to at least pay off the debt in time, you will work with the IP to come up with a repayment plan and if the CC/Loan companies agree to it, you pay of one fee per month and they stop chasing you for the debt.

Your IVA can be cancelled by the insolvency practitioner if you don’t keep up your repayments. The insolvency practitioner can make you bankrupt.

You may still be able to keep your business running, if you have one.

Bankruptcy

When all else fails, do this only as a last resort. Although this will wipe your debts in one go you will have this tag around your neck for 6 years so when you are back on your feet a year later and you apply for a contract mobile phone, a credit card, a mortgage, a home catalog or even Sky tv, forget it, you have a worst credit rating than ever before.

Any credit you apply for for the next 6 years will be at 20 times + the % rate people with half decent credit ratings will pay, so you will pay more in the long run.

My advice (which is easier said than done)

1. Don’t take out credit, if you can’t afford it with the cash in your hand, don’t buy it.
2. If you are in difficulty, speak to your CC/Loan company to arrange to pay it back bit by bit, but don’t take the p**s and offer £5 a month, because they won’t listen to you.
3. If you can’t afford or they won’t listen, skip the DMP and go for an IVA if you are in that much trouble. Your credit rating will be in the toilet for a while, but your life will carry on as normal and creditors will take into account that you are willing to pay them back albiet slowly
4. Avoid bankruptcy, it will cost you more in the long run

This is my opinion only, if you are in debt, For help, go to moneyadviceservice.org.uk

We all need an influx of cash from time to time. What are your short term loan options? The question is, how do we get the cash that we need? There are all sorts of loans available to people with all kinds of credit ratings. You don’t have to miss out on a loan because of bad credit anymore. Let’s take a look at some of the options.

Installment Loans

An installment loan or short term loan can be described as a loan for which there are a fixed number of payments to be made over a predetermined period of time. Many different types of loans fall into this category – from auto loans and mortgages to some personal loans and more. The thing about the big financial institutions likes banks, is that they require a lot of paperwork and you have to have relatively good credit to get them. What if you don’t have good credit? What if you need an amount of money that is too small for most banks to consider? What if you know what you need the money for and you need it right now?

In fact, figuring out the use of your monthly installment loan shouldn’t be that difficult. You probably know why you need the money as soon as you know you need it. The question is, what type of loan do you need? You need to determine this before you go any further.

Payday Loans

Everyone should know by now that payday loans can be dangerous, and in fact, they are known to be predatory. Payday loans are loans that have a short duration coupled with high rates of interest. Typically, they will need to be paid back on the very next payday of the borrower… which can lead to the borrower not being able to make ends meet and having to go through the process all over again.

Debt Consolidation

Some people look to get loans in order to consolidate their debts. This can be a good thing and can even give their credit score a boost in the process. The question is whether or not you need a secured or a short term loan to consolidate your debt?

When you need to borrow some cash, you have several short term loan options. These options include things like borrowing from family or friends (which should always be a last option), getting a cash advance from one of your credit cards, getting a traditional loan from a financial institution such as a bank or credit union, getting a payday loan, or getting an installment loan.

Secured Loans

If you go to a bank, they tend to offer two options for loans – secured and unsecured. A secured loan is a loan that needs to have a form of collateral. This could be the deed to your home, as is the case with mortgage loans. If you default on the loan, the collateral will become the property of the lender. One of the benefits of a secured loan is that you can claim the interest that is associated with it as a tax write-off.

Short Term Loans

Unsecured loans typically don’t need any sort of collateral and this is what most short term loans are. You are able to get the money you need and then pay it back in a short period of time. The rate of interest might be a bit higher on these because the lender is taking more of a chance since there is no collateral.

Direct Lenders or Brokers?

Be careful when landing on a broker short term loan page as there may be hidden charges, some brokers will charge you for just finding you a loan!! Short term loan direct lenders are the safest bet, or brokers who do not charge you for their services

What to Look For

Anytime you need a loan of any kind, there are some things that you need to look for when you are researching your options. One of those things is the quality of the lender. Knowing that you will be dealing with a lender that is qualified as well as compliant with all regulations can give you a significant amount of stress relief, especially if this is your first time borrowing.

You also need to look at the total package and the terms. Whether or not you are the type of person who likes going through all of the legal jargon, you really should compare all of the fine print for any loan you are considering. You need to know exactly what is involved and what the penalties will be if you make a late payment or default on the loan.

In an exclusive interview with Credit Strategy, Bailey said consumers need to be properly informed why the refusal has been made when customers’ applications for mortgages, loans and credit cards are declined. This also may apply to the subprime payday and short term loans market

His comments follow an FCA paper last year which mentioned there is a confusing void of information for consumers as to why they’ve been refused a certain product.

When questioned on the issue by Credit Strategy, Bailey mooted the reasons that could be given to consumers for the refusal, stating: “Is it as straightforward as their credit reference? Is it something about the nature of the product that doesn’t fit with their information? It may be in some cases the credit reference precludes a lot of products. Is it about credit, or is it about some other aspect of the customer’s profile?”

He added: “It’s wrong to think the only thing that matters is the credit score. I think it’s likely, inevitable and sensible that the credit scoring process becomes more transparent to people. I think people deserve greater transparency.

“It’ll be interesting if you see the work that’s building up on open access; this question that comes out of the Competition and Markets Authority report, this desire for the broad access to information to allow people to have greater choice of products and how that will play out.”

Bailey added that the FCA has looked at, and will continue to make statements on, the use of big data because “some of it is undoubtedly beneficial and some of it isn’t.”

He said: “Information which is used to increase choice of products and improve risk pricing – that’s a good thing. There’s another set of information where we take a slightly different view, where firms use information about people to, in a sense, exploit their characteristics.”

Story Courtesy of Credit Strategy

Have you checked your Credit Report recently?

Did you know that your credit history may be harming your financial reputation without your knowledge. There are a few things you can do to improve the situation, even if you have made some serious mistakes in the past, you are still going to be able to repair the damage. It is recommended that you check your credit report on a regular basis even if you don’t require credit at the moment because a poor credit history can make it difficult to borrow money, get credit cards or a mortgage, or even get monthly contracts for a mobile phone or insurance.

Here are a few free credit report services you could use to start you on your road to recovery;

The main 3 credit agencies are Experian, Equifax and Call Credit. Each company you use to obtain loans, credit cards, mortgages, etc. with use one or more of these 3 to determine your eligibility.

Experian – Creditmatcher – This is a new free service that Experian (one of the top 3 credit scoring agencies) has set up. It is free but you’ll have to give them your card details for id verification.

Noddle – This is another free for life service run by Callcredit. Again, it is free but you’ll have to give them your card details for id verification.

Clearscore – This is the closest free site to map Equifax’s credit scoring system. Same mo as the others above with id verification

Now you can generate all 3 reports and a better understanding of how good or not so good your credit scoring and reputation is.

Understanding your credit score and report

If you have had problems with credit in the past, you may just assume that this history is going to be causing you harm. The problem is that until you have a clearer idea about the actual damage that has been caused, it is going to be hard to rectify the situation. So one of the first things you are going to want to do is look at your credit report – this document is basically your track record when it comes to using credit.

A credit report can be a bit confusing if you don’t know what you are looking at. It will have a list of your credit lines (sources of credit such as loans and credit cards), and your payment history in regards to this money you have borrowed. There is also a section called credit searches – if you have tried to borrow money in the last year, you can expect it to show up here as an enquiry (even if you were refused the loan). The credit report is also going to contain information that is on public record that could influence your ability to repay debts (e.g. a record of falling behind on child maintenance, bankruptcy, ccj’s, etc.).

One of the other things you are going to want to know is your credit score. There are actually a number of companies who provide credit scoring. The system used by Experian is fairly popular, and this would see a score of 881 to 999 as good/excellent. You want your credit score to be around the 700 mark, and if it is lower than this you need to take action to rectify the situation.

Repairing Your Credit

One of the first things you need to do when repairing your credit is to go over your credit report carefully to make sure there are no errors. Mistakes happen all the time, and you don’t want to be penalised for debt that has nothing to do with you. You also want to make sure that there is no evidence that other people have been creating debt using your name – if there are lots of credit enquiries recently. If you do find mistakes, you need to first contact the company that is responsible for creating it, most companies have a procedure for rectifying the situation. If you are unable to get the dispute resolved to your satisfaction, it is your right to add a note to the credit report explaining your side of things.

One of the best things you can do to repair your credit is to take action to improve your score. One of the ways you do this is by reducing the amount of money you have borrowed. You basically want to reach a stage where you have borrowed less than 30 per cent of the total amount of credit available to you. Always be careful about reducing your credit limit or getting rid of credit cards, because this makes it look as if you are using more of your available credit. It’s also not a good idea to apply for additional credit cards while trying to improve your credit score.

One of the important things to understand is that just because there is some bad stuff on your credit report now, it’s not going to make it impossible for you to get loans in the future. Even if there is something like a loan default on there, you can usually expect this to be removed within six years.

Before the crash in 2008, most of the banks would give out loans to anyone, well almost anyone. If you had a mortgaged to the hilt house or maxed out credit cards you would still get a loan, because you may have been deemed as low risk by the banks. (now credit scoring).

Then the end of 2008, early 2009, the banks decided to review their policy and stop lending (to most), as their appetite for risk had changed dramatically, which opened up the flood gates for a new breed of lender, the Payday lender.

Soon after the banks turned their backs on most of us, the payday lenders swooped in to save the day offering great loan deals which could be paid back within a couple of weeks with, what looked like, a low interest rate.

We know how the payday lender story goes as many headlines appeared stating lenders were charging over 5000% Representative APR because people were rolling their loan over month by month or missing payments then trying to catch up, etc., etc., so the government had to step in to take control of the industry and put a cap on the APR these lenders could charge, so it was set to a maximum of 292% APR and the maximum amount you will ever pay on a single loan is double the amount you borrowed, so, no more 5000%.

Now, this brings me to the present day. If you have bad, poor or adverse (however you want to say it) credit then you’ll find it even more difficult to get credit today because even the short term lenders have now changed their risk appetite, so unless your credit score is in line with their new risk appetite you won’t even get a loan from them. This could leave you helpless in an emergency if you haven’t got a friend who can be your guarantor.

However, there are still a few options you could take if you really are desperate, you could try one of the new breed of lenders for short term loans who look beyond your credit score and lend based on a more human approach, or chance your arm at a high % APR credit card specifically designed for people with bad credit.

The best option is to plan ahead with money and not put yourself in a situation where you have to get a loan, even in an emergency, but if we could all plan our lives like that, we wouldn’t be in this situation would we?