The Best & Worst UK Payday Loans

Payday loans on the whole are a bad idea. I know this. The reason being is that they charge a huge rate of interest. However, I have been incredibly short of cash for a long time, and sometimes there is no other way to make it through the month, particularly as they can deposit funds into your bank account on the same day the loan is requested. I have come to the opinion that as long as you can afford the loan repayment, and don't get to the point of relying on them every month, they can be helpful in the short term. As I have had some experience now of using these, I thought I should share my experiences.

There appear to be hundreds of these companies nowadays, and one quick search on the internet will prove this. They promise to provide loans with no credit checks, which is handy for those of us with a bad credit rating. The trouble is that not many can be trusted. Many of these companies will make false claims in my experience. most commonly is that no documents will need to be faxed to them before a loan can be approved. I have personally approached several of these companies, who display "no faxing" in big letters on the website, but as soon as they approve the loan in principle, they request multiple documents to be faxed before they release the money! Others promise to guarantee acceptance, and then turn down applications with no reason. Believe me this is true! I don't know how they can get away with this.

In the end I found two companies I thought I could rely on. However, whilst one of these has continued to impress me, the other has now made my blood boil! Here is the story...

The Worst

Quick Quid is a company I have used a couple of times now. The first loan was obtained with no problems at all. Next time I needed a loan, the amount they were prepared to offer had increased (this is common). The problem came to light when it was time to repay this.

Friday:

As I am having to keep a tight reign on the finances, I decided to check that everything to be paid had come out of my account. I checked online, and no sign of the Quick Quid payment. Our online banking system tends to be a few days behind, so I then looked on the Quick Quid website. This showed my loan as still being outstanding. Confused, I entered into "online chat" with an advisor, who told me that the payment had been returned due to insufficient funds. I knew this must be wrong, as there was plenty of money there, more than enough for them. They refused to believe me, or even consider the possibility that their system had made a mistake! I was then told that they had taken a part payment, and that unless the remainder was paid by the end of the day (I was told this at 8.30 at night), my account with them would go to their collections department for which I would be charged an extra £12. This sounded so unreasonable, seeing as they had no proof that it was even my fault! It was just lucky that I had bothered to check. No one from Quick Quid had bothered to let me know there was a potential problem, let alone allow me much of a chance to sort this out!

So I spoke to an advisor at the bank, who could tell me everything, in and out of the account. The bank told me that there was several hundred pounds in the account (much more than they would need to take out). This was despite a payment of £428.75 (the repayment amount for Quick Quid) coming out, plus a further payment of £171.50 (again from Quick Quid)! I contacted Quick Quid again, only to be told that they could not do anything unless I could prove this with a copy of my bank statement, which had not yet been issued! They agreed that someone would call me regarding this issue within 48 hours... That call never came.

Tuesday:

I gave Quick Quid some grace over the bank holiday weekend, and when I still had heard nothing by Tuesday morning, I called to speak to someone about this. Again I was told that they needed to verify this with a copy of my bank statement. Luckily, these transactions now showed on the online banking system, so I was able to email this over. I was again promised a call once they had received and checked the information I sent them against their own records. No call came from Quick Quid. So I waited...

While I was waiting, I received a call from my partner. He had checked the account in a cash machine, hoping to get some out. This told him that our account was soon to be overdrawn, as all of the available balance was about to be withdrawn, and then some! Again I phoned the bank to find out what was happening. I was told that there were two pending payments, one for £107.71 and the other for £161.54, which neither of us had authorised. I calculated that these pending payments, plus the original overcharge for£171.50 added up to the whole loan amount (£428.75) plus the £12.00 they had threatened to take from me for late payment! However, I could not prove this.

Back to Quick Quid! Unwittingly, they made my case easier, as they could confirm the two latest charges were from them. The issue they seemed to be having concerned the original two charges. These were clearly marked on the bank statement! They finally admitted (after what seemed like hours on the phone) to the £171.50 charge as well, but couldn't work out the £428.75. I had to tell them over and over again that this payment had not been returned, and was not pending, because IT WAS ON THE BANK STATEMENT AND CONFIRMED BY THE BANK! Finally they seemed to accept this, and I was told that a manager would call me some time today (although they were very vague about how long this would take).

I waited over an hour, and no call came. Judging by their record for calling back, I called again. This time I spoke to a very bored advisor (I use the term loosely) who told me an email had been sent to the manager. She could not put me through to ANY manager, or give me any idea when they would call. This, I thought was a lost cause, she just didn't care, even though I repeatedly remeinded her that her company had unjustly taken £440.75 from my account! At the end of the conversation, she even had the gall to ask if there was anything else she could help me with! I told her that as she couldn't be bothered to help me with this, I couldn't see what else it was worth asking her for!

However, surprisingly enough, I did receive a call from them at 4.30 that afternoon (that was virtually my whole day wasted on them). I assume this was the elusive manager, as she finally agreed to deposit £440.75 back into my account, with no arguments this time! Yippee!!!

Take this as a warning. If you're looking for a hassle free pay day loan, DON'T GO TO QUICK QUID!

The Best

There are exceptions to this rule. Wonga is it. Their site is easy to use, and hassle free. They don't ask for endless documents to be faxed, and you can see at a glance how much the loan will cost. They also tell you in advance how much they will be willing to lend (unlike some others). You are also able to see how much less this will cost if you repay them early. This is easier to do than will other sites, as you can do it online.

With most of these companies, if you choose a lesser amount than your limit with them, you have to stick to this. They will not authorise another loan of any amount until the first is repaid. With Wonga this is not the case. You are given a limit (which rises every time you repay a loan in full) and if you want to increase your loan (up to the limit of course) you are welcome to do so. Again, you are able to check in advance online how much this will cost.

Even better, it states clearly on the website not only how much you can borrow, but exactly when the funds will be in your account (usually about an hour or two after applying). I have not seen this approach anywhere else.

The site itself consists of two sliders primarily. The first gives you the ability to slide to the amount you wish to borrow, and on the other how many days the loan is for. By juggling with these, the total cost of the loan (including interest) is shown, so you know exactly where you are. The same applies when borrowing an additional amount. In this case though, you can see the original loan details, and the loan with the extra amount added, so this is easy to calculate.

I have dealt with Wonga three times now, two for new loans and one including an additional amount which has been added later. They have always been reliable so far. Whilst I must repeat my warning, that it can be dangerous to your finances to rely on pay day loans, Wonga are my first choice of this type of lender.

Don't trust the others, if you really need quick cash, you're much safer going to Wonga!