Amy's Story
I never thought in my lifetime that I would experience something like this. I guess when you're desperate, you don't think straight. I got involved with this predatory lending a year ago when I got hit with financial problems due to car repair and medical bills.
I tried to apply for a loan with a financial institution but was denied because of my other outstanding loans, despite the fact that I have a very good credit history. I ended up with "payday loans."
In the beginning, I didn't feel the burden because I could still pay it during my pay period. Then another car repair hit me after a few months and I had to increase my payday loans. I did not realize until now (after a year) that I have eight outstanding loans totaling almost $4,000 (including their high interest rate).
I finally woke up and realized that I almost couldn't even pay my rent, which had never happened before. I also had difficulty paying my other bills and loans. I started to search the web and found out that I am not alone: there are other payday loan victims out there like me.
Since I cannot put back the hands of time, all I can do is fix it the best I can and learn from this mistake. I am now negotiating with all my payday loan creditors. Some of them had agreed to negotiate, some are still contemplating my payment plan offer, and one has threatened to garnish my wages.
Through the help of Jay Speer of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, I was able to educate myself concerning my rights as a debtor which I was not aware of. If I only knew then what I know now, I would have stopped it earlier before my loans accumulated. It became a habit since it's an "easy" loan and I was thinking I could pay it off "one day," but that day never happens. I am hoping that my story will help other people to realize not to deal with payday loans.