How I Solved PDL Debt Problems and Started a Website

*This is a guest post by Catherine Burke of Online Payday Loan Consolidation. Visit her blog if you have financial concerns. Enjoy reading it!

Online Payday Loan Consolidation - My brainchild. But the journey wasn’t easy.

Will you believe that once I had to struggle to get rid of payday loan debt? Yes. it’s true. That’s why I want to help others who are going through the same journey.

Here I am sharing my debt relief journey, how I got trapped and how I managed to come out of it.

How I got trapped into the payday loan debt

That time I was in my college and my grandfather fell ill. He didn’t have much insurance to cover the course of treatment. My father had taken out a loan to bear the cost.

One day, there was a shortage of some funds and my father was wondering how to manage it. I somehow came to know about payday loan (pdl). I took out a payday loan as I got the amount (about $1000) within 2 days. I was happy as I didn’t have to face much hassle to take out the loan and got the amount so fast. The payment due date was after 12 days. I was doing a part-time job and thought I would be able to repay the amount.

However, I should mention here that I knew that I would have to pay $1110 as the pdl fee was $110. But what I didn’t know was that the interest rate was 212% that would make the loan amount 3120 if I miss the payment date. I came to realize that later; I couldn’t repay the loan in full as I had to pay my bills and had to pay for my car repair, too.

I didn't have an emergency fund then. So, I decided to take out another payday loan to repay the existing one. However, as it usually happens, I couldn’t pay back the second payday loan and over time, I had accumulated multiple payday loans.

To make matters worse, I also gave electronic access to one pdl lender. The result was after the paycheck day, I found that a significant amount got debited from my account. I didn’t have much to do at that time.

Later, one of my friends, who’s a financial adviser, told me to check whether or not my pdls were legal. I found out that one of my pdls was illegal. I had already paid more than what I was supposed to make on that illegal payday loan.

This is not the entire story. I was also sued for not paying back the payday loan. However, I could manage to do an out of court settlement with the pdl lender.

An idea about my financial condition and debt scenario at that time

Well, the time which I am talking about, only pdls were not my only concern. Like many others, I also had credit card debt. However, I didn’t default on all of them.

However, in spite of my debt problems, a ray of light was that I had got a job by then. I planned a budget so that I could save a significant amount to repay debts.

As I already mentioned, one payday loan was illegal, so I had to pay only the principal amount. I had already paid the principal amount along with a bit extra as I was ignorant about illegal payday loan then. However, at least one burden was lessened.

How I found my way out!

While assessing my financial situation, I found that I didn’t have enough to repay all my debts. So, I had to opt for debt settlement. But the difficult part was to convince the payday loan lenders.

When you have nothing to lose, you get that extra strength to fight. So, somehow I had to convince my creditors to reduce the payoff amount. After a few negotiations, the reduced payoff amount in the pdls was about $1400, $2700, and $3600. So, all total $7700.

As per my budget, I could manage to save about $700 - $1100 every month. Within 10 months, I was able to get rid of the pdls.

Along with it, I had also opted for balance transfer method, and could repay the 2 credit card bills, whose outstanding balance were not that high.

While I was paying back debts, I really felt that if someone could help me in my debt-free journey. Well, my financial adviser friend really helped me and gave me valuable suggestions.

After paying back debts, I thought of sharing my experiences through a website where you’ll find articles, strategies, guidelines, in short, valuable information and resources to get out of payday loan debt.

So, this is the brief story behind my brainchild Online Payday Loan Consolidation, which I started in 2018. If you are struggling with payday loans or want to know alternative options for payday loans, you can get help here.

What I have learned that I want to share!

I had to face debt problems because I was ignorant of the fact that payday loans have such skyrocketing interest rates. Therefore, whenever you take out any kind of loan, make sure you go through the terms and conditions carefully. Know every pros and cons before you sign any agreement.

Another important thing is that you need to learn to manage your debts carefully. Whenever you’re charging your cards, make sure you have the capability to repay the outstanding balance at that billing cycle itself. If not, then calculate how long it’ll take to repay the amount and how much you need to pay as interest. This will help you manage your financial life in a better way. Also, be current on your secured loans.

However, what I feel is, in most hardships, there’s something good attached to it. And, in my case, it’s that I have become a bit knowledgeable and I can help others to come out of the debt trap, especially payday loan debt trap.

I will be happy if I can help others fix their debt problems and lead a peaceful financial life!