Consumer magazine. Rachel Treadaway-Williams investigates bogus loan companies, Lucy Owen looks at a holiday from hell and Rhodri Owen finds out how to burglar-proof homes.
The loans industry is booming. Last year ten million pounds worth of loans were made to people who applied online. But many find they're not applying to lenders, but to brokers who sell their details on for a fee. Rachel Treadaway-Williams investigates the way in which those desperately in need of a loan are being duped into parting with hundreds of pounds by bogus companies.
Lucy Owen sorts out a refund for Terry McGarry and his wife Terice, whose all-inclusive holiday to Turkey was anything but a delight. Rhodri Owen hears how a burglary left Bablin Molik and her family distraught and finds out to do more to burglar-proof homes.
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Payday lenders
The payday loan industry is big business. Last year payday lenders issued more than 10 million loans to 1.6 million customers, worth over £2.5 billion.
At this time of year more people than ever seek out a loan... and it's almost always the people on the lowest incomes who end up paying the most when it comes to borrowing money.Ìý
Whilst new rules on the amount payday lenders can charge were announced last week, there's still no clampdown on the way people's details are passed from company to company, or how much those companies can charge in fees.
Kayleigh Taylor from Mountain Ash decided to apply for a £1000 payday loan when she needed a new car.
After putting her details in online, Kayleigh was contacted by a company calling itself Amazon Loans who offered her a loan of £2000.
Hospital worker Pauline and her disabled partner John, from Cardiff, applied for a £1500 loan to help pay their bills. This time it was a different company, Quick Cash Loans, who offered them £2000.
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But as both Pauline and Kayleigh discovered, there was a catch. Before releasing their loans, the companies came up with all sorts of excuses why they wanted cash upfront in the form of Ukash vouchers.
In just 24 hours Kayleigh handed over £645 – money she and her children couldn’t afford to lose.
Pauline and John paid £540, borrowing from family and friends.
Their loans were never received.
So what went wrong? Kayleigh and Pauline's search for a loan - like ours - had led them not to a lender but to brokers - who then sold their details to bogus companies. It's a growing industry and the fraudsters work very quickly.
We entered our details on similar sites and to date we’ve been contacted by 90 different companies - all brokers, many of whom want to charge an upfront fee to find us a loan.
And who’s to say we’d even get the money? In Pauline and Kayleigh’s case, the companies that have acquired their details had no intention of handing over the loan. On the limited paperwork they received there were fake details and addresses. And when we’ve tried to call the companies, they’ve hung up.
And the people who seemed to offer Kayleigh a loan?ÌýÌýWell they also seem to have stolen the name of a UK-based company and cloned their details.
To make matters worse, each day they’re inundated with calls and texts from loan companies offering them money. Kayleigh received 83 texts in one day alone.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that they will ever their money refunded.
We spoke to Dennis Hussey, an adviser with National Debtline. He told us that if an individual is in debt, it's likely that a loan will exacerbate the problem. He says take time to think about what you really need and get some independent financial advice as there may be other solutions.
For more information visit:
or call 0808 808 4000
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Turkey holiday
With its beautiful beaches and warm sunshine the Turkish resort of Marmaris is a dream destination for lots of British holiday-makers.ÌýBut for many people, heading off to foreign climes can be a big investment.Ìý
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Terry and Terice McGarry are cleaners who booked a fortnight’s break in Marmaris with Best Priced Holidays.Ìý
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It was their first holiday in nine years and they couldn’t wait!ÌýIt took them 15 hours to get from their home in Blackwood to Marmaris so they were pretty exhausted when they arrived at the Rota Samoy Hotel.Ìý
However, when they tried to check in there was no room available for them.ÌýThey ended up waiting around six hours.
When the McGarrys finally got into their room they were shocked by the state of it – the toilet was black, the taps were covered in limescale and there was a lot of grime.ÌýThe McGarrys had to buy their own cleaning products to give the room a good going over!
And it wasn’t just the dirt, there were safety issues as well - the McGarrys had to put up with cracked floor tiles, exposed cables, faulty lights, a broken smoke alarm and there was no water for three days.
After five days the McGarrys had had enough and asked to be moved to another hotel.ÌýThey’d booked their fortnight all-inclusive break with Best Priced Holidays, which is a trading name of Jetline.Ìý
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Jetline did move the couple to another hotel, but as it was only half-board the McGarrys struggled to cover the extra costs and couldn’t afford to go on trips and enjoy their holiday properly.
Terry made an official complaint to Jetline and he contacted Hotel Beds, who arranged the accommodation for Jetline, but he’s been passed round in circles.
Consumer lawyer Mark Harvey believes this is one of the dangers of booking a holiday online - when things go wrong it can be very difficult to work out who is responsible for putting things right.ÌýMark spent 45 minutes online trying to figure out what was going on and then had to give up!
Terry still feels guilty about their holiday problems and is distraught about what he put his wife through.ÌýHe wants his money back.
After X-Ray got in touch with Best Priced Holidays/Jetline they refunded all of Terry’s money and apologised for his disappointing holiday.
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Lucy Owen |
Presenter | Rhodri Owen |
Reporter | Rachel Treadaway-Williams |
Series Producer | Susie Phillips |
Broadcast
- Mon 17 Nov 2014 19:30´óÏó´«Ã½ One Wales HD & Wales only