I phoned Town and Country Acceptance today to find out the current status of my accounts and those dreaded payday loans. A few months ago, I was drowning in debt with nowhere to turn. Now, I am slowly progressing toward payday loan freedom. I can not wait until I pay them all in full.

Here is the status of my accounts (after waiting thirty minutes to speak to a human being with Town and Country):

CashnetUSA: I started out with a $295 balance with CashnetUSA back in September. Now, I have a balance of $209. Recently, I wrote to CashnetUSA requesting a pay off balance. They told me $259, fifty dollars more than what Town and Country said. Not surprising, I opted to keep CashnetUSA in Town and Country until the account is paid in full which it should be in eight months estimated.

Cash Central: Cash Central call each week requesting payments that they contend they have yet to receive from Town and Country. I contacted Town and Country about this and they informed me that they had sent a payment and will send me a statement of activity for my account. In September, the balance with Cash Central was $700. Today my balance is now $416. Cash Central said that I can start sending my payments to them personally by using a debit or credit card. Again, I plan on keeping them in Town and Country which I have four payments left to pay on my account which will conclude them and I can put the money toward paying off Ten Dollar Payday Loan in full.

One Step and United Cash Loans: I can honestly say that neither of these companies have yet to contact me. Each have a balance of $440 after being $325 and $390 with added interest. I will contact them on Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday, to find out what the status is and what I can do to reduce the balance to pay the loans off in full.

Ten Dollar Payday/Rio Resouces/ACA Recovery: I have been paying them faithfully each month and now my balance is down to $495. However, they are now requesting that I don’t send money orders but instead shell out an additional $12.95 to send it Western Union which I think is preposterous. How can they expect me to reach down in my pocket each month and send them money via Western Union because as they say “they have been having problems receiving the money from others.” I have to ask what does that have to do with me?

As for my storefronts, I am on the verge of getting one of them as early as the next payday. I can’t wait until I have paid them off in full which I am working on to be in eight months. This will be a such a relief for me considering all of the trouble I have been going through with these loans.

Man, I have had a rough day! I woke up this morning, late of course. I had only thirty minutes to get dressed to get to work.

As to be expected, my car is almost on E. But some how I make it to the job. My boss acts if he doesn’t want to talk to me today and that’s okay because I am going through premenstrual agony (only a woman would understand).

And then I go online to check my bank statement. This is usually a daily activity of mine which causes me to be alarmed when there appears to be a mistake. Unfortunately, for me the mistake was through no fault of the bank. It was all me.

I did what I normally would do each morning. I turned on the computer, went to the bank’s website, put in my user name and password. Then hit enter.

Before I knew it, I felt my heart dropped. Current balance: -30.00. Available balance: -59.00. Yep. The bank got me. I hadn’t seen that episodic moment in months back when I had to deal with the crunch of payday loans on payday where the majority of my check was already gone before I could get my hands on it. But this was horrible. I tried to remain calm but remember I am experiencing the moments prior to that event that occurs every month. So this was getting to be a problem for me today.

I examined what the problem was. I looked and saw a check for $75 had been posted to my account. Although it had been taken out of my check register, I was coming up $30 short. Plus I have to add the fee for NSF checks. That was half of a hundred.

I decided to vacate the premises called work and headed to the bank. While I have banked at this facility for years, it amazing how each branch can be totally different. I go to the best branch and I am greeted with a smile and people who are willing to help. I go to the main branch and I get smell of stuffiness and a lady who isn’t willing to let any of the banks funds go.

She looked at my account, already determined not to give me any of the hard earned doe even if it wasn’t hers. She examined each and every line and calculated on her adding machine. She couldn’t find a mistake. She then requested to look at my check register which in the midst of all the anger, I left in my purse at the office.

I returned to my office defeated. But I decided that I was going to prove the bank wrong. I went back to my register and I recalculated but then I realized that I was coming up with a totally different amount, the same amount that they came up with. I recalculated again and again I was coming up with the same amount. After recalculating one last time, I was left again disappointed and almost in tears. Because I didn’t have the money to pay for that and pay for my car insurance which is suppose to come out tomorrow.

So I had to think fast at least before 3:00 p.m. (or 5:00 p.m. at the ATM machine). I thought about the funds I had available at a loan company but I didn’t want to start over again. I had to think about family. But I didn’t want to borrow from family members and feel like a failure. So after a few minutes, I picked up the phone and called my uncle and explained my situation. Without hesitation, he let me borrow the money until payday. Wow. I wish I would have went to relatives sooner, well at least this one uncle.

So my problem was solved….today. But I still feel disappointed at the fact that I can’t count. I had a calculator right before me but I messed up on my check register again. And I had to face the horror of borrowing money from family members. This is about as embarassing as going to the dreaded payday loans every two weeks while looking at all of the people who were in the same boat.  But I had to swallow my dreaded pride and take the money graciously.

Still today I feel as if I am a failure. I am in my thirties and I have issues with finances and I want to be independent. That’s what I wanted my whole life was to be independent. But if I can’t even get my check register to register, then how can I be independent? I need to be more careful. I mean, extra careful.

Today was payday. It was bad enough I had to run all over town to pay on the three storefront loans I have and also try to make it back to work on time, I have to encounter others. In one hour, you encounter the payday lender, a person who knows you at the bank, the McDonald’s clerk who really doesn’t want to have to deal with the lunch crowd and of course, a man trying to hit on me.

It happened when I was getting a money order. On my way to make a payment that requires me to have a money order, I meet this guy. To say that he wasn’t the guy that I was expecting to see would be an understandment. He came in and immediately struck a conversation with me.

But here is where Prince Charming turns into that damn frog. First of all, he had yellow teeth. I swear that they were yellow. Next, and I wish that men would not do this, he started talking about his last relationship. Apparently, the last girlfriend he had cheated on him with one of his best friends. He also said that when he calls her, she drops whatever she is doing to talk to him. He also said that her mother tells him all of the time that she doesn’t understand why would she let go of someone so good to her. After all, he was willing to take care of her kids (that wasn’t his of course) and this is the respect that she shows him.

Here is what I intepreted from the conversation. I could be wrong but this is what I got and see if you agree with me on this.

First of all, personal hygiene means a lot to me. If you intend to meet a young lady such as myself who is trying to work hard to keep her credit up and is working hard to become something in her life, you should at least use some oral hygiene products. If that sounds like I am being picky, I am trying not to be. But with this guy and the conversation we were having, I was almost attempting to look past this flaw.

Next, with an individual that you are interested in and you have met for the first time, it would be detrimental that you don’t bring up your last relationship and how it wasn’t your fault. We all have faults in our relationships. Believe me, I am no perfect saint and I don’t expect anyone else to be. I know that many of my relationships have been diminished because my own stupidity and immaturity. But you admit that there was nothing that you did that caused her to cheat with your best friend? Absolutely nothing?

Finally, why would you have any contact with a woman who cheated on you? He didn’t say that he calls to talk to the kids. He didn’t say anything about calling to see where his missing shoes were. He said that he has contact with this woman. For what? Why would you have contact with her? This is not something that you tell a potential mate. And her mother said that you were such a good man? Come on. The only reason, in my opinion, that you would talk to the mama if you only want to say hi and not to have anything further.

Well, to make a long story extremely short, I asked him for his phone number so that I can call him (don’t call us, we’ll call you). He serves me no purpose now. Even when I asked him for the phone number, he thought that I wanted him! He felt like a man to his boys standing around with him but to me he is a prime example of why I am happily single.

Are there any real men out there who don’t think that I am so stupid?

As a PDL junkie who is currently trying to stay clean of the addiction, I am always curious as to what laws or statutes are being passed around the country to finally rid of us of the dreaded payday loans. Recently, in my search, I came across a news story from Kansas City. Finally, government officials at the local and state level are seeing what we are going through as customers to these evil people and are making a difference.

Here is the story:

KC moves against new

payday-loan businesses

By ADJOA ADOFO

The Kansas City Star

A City Council committee moved Wednesday to keep new payday-loan businesses from opening in Kansas City.

The Finance Committee voted for a moratorium on business and occupation licenses until June 30, while a task force investigates industry practices. The moratorium would apply to payday, title and signature loan businesses.

The full council is to consider the measure today. It would not affect loan businesses already open.

Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Brooks said the moratorium was needed to keep loan businesses from moving in from other cities passing similar measures.

Gladstone in October approved a moratorium.

“Other communities on both sides of the state line are considering this,” Brooks said. “We want to certainly support small business, but we have a responsibility to look out for the safety of our citizens.”

Judy Hadley, city revenue commissioner who will lead the task force, said it would look into whether the loan businesses focused on poor areas and whether they followed state and federal laws.

Legislation that would further restrict predatory lending has been introduced in the Missouri General Assembly.

Loan businesses have drawn attention as politicians have accused them of victimizing customers.

Finally, officials are noticing what they have done to people. While there may be some legitimate payday loan business out there, there are also those that have us robbing Peter to pay Paul every payday. I will be so happy when the day comes when I don’t have to pay one more dime to a payday loan.

I have decided to show this article to the State of Louisiana and finally decided to fight with the government to remove these people from our lives. Wish me luck.