Hi there,

I work for the FT and we are hoping to talk to people who have responded to letters that claim to offer an instant loan (companies such as 'Provident', for example, with the lure of 'cash for christmas'), but then charge extremely high rates of interest, or charge premium rates for calls but don't actually come up with the loan. I'd really be interested in hearing more about your experiences so if you could please get in touch over email victoria.richards@ft.com that would be great. Many thanks.

Last year I was desperate for a loan and I was contacted by text message asking me to call Emma at 'Cash Finance Direct' on a premium rate number. At the time I didnt realise it was premium rate and so I called them, I went through a loan application and then the person said I had been approved for the amount I needed and then asked me for my bank details - I gave them my details and then they decided to tell me that they were going to match me with an appropriate lender and get back to me (even though they told me they were the lenders) and I never heard from them again. Shortly after my bank went into debt and when I checked my statements it showed CFD had tried to take a weekly installment even though they hadn't paid me anything, and they had set up 4 months worth of direct debits to be taken out of my account at the same amount, leaving me in debt £400 plus bank charges of £30 each time my bank was overdrawn. I reported this to the police but I never heard anything more from it and I had to pay off my bank charges with my Job Seekers Allowance benefit which left me skint for about 6 months and on top of that I had a £35 phone bill from calling the premium rate number.