person victim stories

Listed below are stories about real victims of payday lenders. Their stories are both compelling and sad, but more than anything, illustrate the debt trap caused by payday lenders.

Brandi's Story

My name is Brandi and I live in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. My family was going through a transition and fell into a financial bind. My husband and I decided to get a payday loan in the amount of $300.

We didn’t want to carry out the payments of $68.00 they set for us because we would’ve repaid a little over $800 for a $300 loan, so my husband made bi-weekly payments in the amount $100 directly [in store] to the company. A balance of $180 was paid in full on the 6th week of payments.

The company started saying that we still owed money to them (another $300) as if they hadn’t received any payment(s) from us even though receipts of such had been provided. They started making attempts to draft the money out of our account until an attorney became involved.

I wouldn’t recommend pay day lending to anyone because it is indeed a trap. The interest rates are outrageous. Even for those of us who got the loan, repaid the money as scheduled… it’s still a trap because the company will only swear they never received funds in an attempt to continue draining your families finances for as long as they want!

I would recommend trying any other method of loans aside from payday lending because it can become a never ending process of trickery and deceit.

Eric's Story

My name is Eric and I live in Conway, Arkansas. Our family had a financial emergency. We were in need of money fast, so my wife got a payday loan over the internet for $300.

After we received it, 2 weeks later the first payment was withdrawn automatically from our checking account. Within two and a half months the loan was repaid plus interest, but the payday loan company continued to withdraw money from our checking account.

They wouldn’t stop taking payments on their end even after I asked them to stop. So I had to do a stop payment at my bank. However even after I did the stop payment, they withdrew money from my checking account by making the amount they were withdrawing 2 cents less than the stop payment amount which was a red flag there.

So on a $300 loan; we have over paid nearly $250 in interest. What a rip-off!

Hatties's Story

My name is Hattie, and I am a victim and survivor of abusive payday lending practices. I am a resident of Little Rock, but I am from Arkadelphia. For many years, I was an employee of UAMS.

My encounter with payday lending occurred in 1999. It was then that my husband had just died after a prolonged illness and my daughter was suffering a serious medical problem. As a result of these circumstances, I found myself facing about $95, 000.00 in unpaid medical bills. I had to file a bankruptcy petition. In addition to the huge medical debt, I found myself needing $750.00 to repair my automobile.

Before this time, I had been qualified to borrow up to $3,000.00 from my credit union on nothing more than my signature. I could not do that this time, though, because of the large unpaid indebtedness. I needed my automobile every day, in order to take my grandchildren to and from school everyday and run errands for the family. Because I was unable to get the money to repair the car from any other
source, I decided to turn to a payday lending company.

I borrowed $500.00 from the payday lender and added that amount to the $250.00 that I had on hand and paid to have my car repaired. As a part of the loan transaction, I left with the payday lender a check for $575.00, $500.00 of which was for repayment of the loan principal and the additional amount for what I understood to be the interest on the loan.

That's when I became caught in the quagmire. I did not have the money in the bank when the first pay period ended, so I had to roll the loan over. As I understood things, to refinance the loan it cost me a $65.00 charge in addition to another $75.00 interest for the next payroll period. That was an additional $140.00 to the $575.00 that I initially owed.

That was also an additional $140.00 from my already-tight household budget for my daughter, my grandchildren, and myself. At the end of the second payroll period, I was again unable to pay the full amount of the loan. So I had to refinance the loan another time for another $140.00. So I was even deeper into the debt-trap.

The bottom line is that –as time went by - I basically became indebted to the payday lender to the tune of an extra $280.00 each month based on a single loan of $500.00. I had no chance of reducing the debt, because the only options that I had with the payday lender were to pay the full amount of the indebtedness or to refinance the loan over and over again.

The situation was a downright nightmare. I was both stressed and depressed as I tried desperately to find a way out of the situation. I could not allow the payday lender to send that check that I had given to the lender to my bank, because I did not have sufficient funds to cover it.

I was in this trap from about mid-June, 1999, until mid-February, 2000. I was very fortunate that my tax refund that year was large enough to allow me finally to pay the payday lender all of the built-up debt. The life of the loan was about 8 months, and I figure that I paid $2,240.00 in interest and fees on a $500.00 loan. I figure that my total payment was about $2, 740.00.

I don't want anyone else to suffer what I did with payday lending. I know that sometimes in life people need to be able to borrow a relatively small amount of money from some source whenever they find themselves in financial trouble despite being as responsible as they can be. But I also know that the astronomical interest and fees charged on payday loan, and the refinance rat-race that comes with them, are definitely not the answer.

Glenda's Story

My name is Glenda. I live in North Little Rock, and I am a victim of payday lending. Abusive payday lenders trapped me in a cycle of debt and harassed me when I was unable to pay. If this happened to me, this could happen to you, your family member or someone you know. So, I would like to share my story.

My husband had to retire on disability from his job because of an injury. His salary was cut by more than half. We still had the same bills so I borrowed $500 from a payday lender to help make ends meet. Instead of solving my problem, it was the beginning of a nightmare. I only received $462.00 because $83.16 was for interest on the loan to be paid back in two weeks. When I was unable to pay this back on time, I had to go to another payday lender to get a loan to pay the first payday lender back and this in turn starts the cycle of debt.

When it became impossible to make timely payments, harassment and scare tactics began. Payday lenders call you at your job, call and send letters to your home, or call your boss and put your job at risk. The payday lender issued a credit card to me without my knowledge or consent. The only way I found this out was my husband and I refinanced our home and discovered the past due credit card account on my credit report.

Some payday lenders use very abusive collection methods. Borrowers usually give the payday lender a check as security for the loan. Payday lenders can then threaten to turn your check over for collection. They attempted to cash mine three or four times causing $30 bank overdraft charges each time on top of the $25.00 the payday lender charged me for an insufficient check.

My experience with payday lenders had me feeling afraid and humiliated. I personally cannot have my name on our checking account or bank cards because of being afraid they will continue trying to run these checks through. My husband has to handle all the bills and business.

The 1999 Check Cashiers Act protects some payday lenders who charge “fees” which amount to more interest than the Arkansas Constitution allows (17%). I would like lawmakers to protect vulnerable consumers like me by enforcing the state Constitution’s limit of 17 percent.

Bob's Story

Hi, my name is Bob and I live in Center Ridge, Arkansas. I can vividly remember this true to life nightmare. There had been a death in the family and I was having trouble just paying the utilities. I saw a payday lending office and decided why not? I figured that if I could “catch up” the bills, then I could afford to pay off the payday loan about $10 dollars a month until it was paid.

I went in and needed to provide documents from my bank and my source of income. They required that you have no insufficient funds on your statement. So I got my first payday loan. As I signed the lengthy form, the clerk reminded me that I had to pay the full amount in 2 weeks. It was 3 more weeks to payday, and naively I agreed to this because I thought I could be resourceful with my money and make up the difference.

This was not the case. I pawned most of my belongings to make the difference and when I fell short, I had sought another payday lending company just to pay the first one off. So now I was in debt to two payday lending companies. I had a little money left after paying the bills, so I thought that things would settle down. Payday came around and now I was faced with two more large debts plus my regular monthly expenses.

Thus I became enslaved by these merciless businesses. This continued for many years until I was spending most of the month dealing with over 12 payday lending companies. One would go to pay the other. Some of the debts were big amounts, others were less. I traveled from Knoxville to Russellville to Morrilton to Conway to Batesville to Clinton to Hot Springs to Heber Springs to Searcy every month for years, along with the same group of customers I would see at these stores who were caught in this same debt cycle as I was every month. I finally asked my sister to loan me $3,200.00 to pay these people off.

Now I have my dignity back, but this nightmare continues for many others. The moral of this story is to WARN YOUNG AND OLD ALIKE…do not patronize these businesses, you will be physically, mentally, spiritually challenged and defeated by these businesses.

BEWARE…remember the story about Adam and Eve and the snake (check cashers)…

Hazel's Story

My name is Hazel and I am presently a resident of North Little Rock. At the time I got involved with Payday Lenders, I lived in Jacksonville. I am telling my story to help educate other citizens as to the debt trap you can find yourself in after getting a payday loan. I also want to help others better understand just what happens with these lenders. Hopefully others won’t fall prey to their lending practices.

I had been temporarily laid off my part-time job which was to pay the expenses for two major events I needed to attend. One was a family reunion of an entire new family I did not know and that I had and had never met. The other was my 40th year high school class reunion of which I had earned the title of “Queen.”

I needed approximately $500.00 to attend both events (registration fees, transportation, lodging, etc.). I had been told I would be going back to work the first of the month so I thought once I went back to work, I could repay the loan. I was eligible to borrow $300.00 from First American Cash Advance in Jacksonville. The check was written for $300.00, but I actually received less. I think it was about $260.00 that I actually received.

When I didn’t get back to work as scheduled, I was unable to repay to loan on time. They began harassing me by phone with very intimidating threats about putting me in jail. They began terrorizing me by visits to my home and my neighbor; calls were made to my 84-year old mother and my brother. I’d never had anyone to try to collect a debt in that manner before.

My social security was direct deposited and they would go to my bank as soon as it opened, which was long before the close of business deadline for me to pay my loan. They should have allowed me to present my check for payment. Because they took money from my checking account at the bank that caused my rent and living expenses to run short.

This caused me to have to run and get another payday loan from another store for payment causing my rent and living expenses to run short. Which, in turn, caused me to have to run and get another loan someplace else in order to pay my living expenses? I didn’t get back to work when I expected so I was in this vicious cycle of trying to pay them and then remake the loan in order to keep my expenses paid.

I was stressed beyond my limit. I could not reason with them so that’s when I contact Mr. Todd Turner, a consumer protection attorney for advice and assistance. I discontinued my direct deposit, and changed my phone number. They would then re-deposit the check over and over again causing astronomical bank fees. They later began sending out credit card applications urging me to accept the card so they could charge the check amount to the credit card.

I was terrified. I began spending the night with friends whenever I got a call from them because I didn’t know what they were going to do. It was very humiliating and degrading. I hope my children and grandchild never get mixed up with these people.

I pray that our lawmakers will change the Check Cashers Act that allows payday lenders to charge more interest for loans than the Constitution allows (17%) and keep these predators from preying on the citizens of Arkansas with their unfair practices.

Glenn's Story

Hello, my name is Glenn. I live in Colorado and saw the information on your web site about Alternatives to Payday Loans and your section to help victims. The information was very helpful, I just wish I had seen it before I got into this trap called ‘payday lending.’

I'm in debt to 12 payday loan establishments. One is over the internet and 11 are stores here in Colorado. I paid the rollover fees until I was no longer able to do so. I closed my bank account so that each check would not bounce. I am now being accused of writing checks on a closed account.

I'm on Social Security disability, and have no way of even making payment plans. I'm extremely terrified because I know that I won't survive in prison. My only option is to be homeless while I pay one loan at a time in full for the next 12 months. I'm not a criminal, and never intended to defraud these establishments.

I got myself into this mess, and have no idea what to do. Thank you so much for listening.

(Editor’s note – we referred Glenn to the Colorado Attorney General’s office.)