[Benjamin]

Meet the unemployed mother-of-two who borrowed
£1,700 from EIGHT payday loan companies to buy 'hundreds' of Christmas
presents... and now she says she can't pay any of them back
Katie McGil, 28, from Devizes, Wiltshire, now owes more than £3,000
Unemployed mother, who is on benefits, wanted to 'treat' her family
Claims she will be unable to provide for children when paying money back

A single mother on benefits funded her family’s entire Christmas by taking out eight payday loans.

Katie McGill, 28, borrowed around £1,700 from companies including the
controversial Wonga so she could treat her two children to a
traditional meal and expensive presents.It meant Mya-Renee, three,
and Calvin, eight, were each able to unwrap a new bike, a new TV and a
DVD player, as well as numerous computer games.

Payouts: Katie McGill, 28, wanted to 'treat' her children Mya-Renee, three, and Calvin, eight this Christmas

But now the celebrations are over, their mother is saddled with more than £3,000 of
debt – with only her benefits to use to pay it back.Miss McGill,
from Devizes in Wiltshire, started borrowing in the months leading up to
Christmas to pay for this year’s festivities.She ended up taking out eight of the controversial loans – which critics say charge sky-high rates – from various lenders.

She says the only way she will be able to pay them back is by using the
£140 of her fortnightly benefits that doesn’t already leave her account
through direct debits for various expenses.

Miss McGill said: ‘Each time I’ve borrowed money I’ve started borrowing more and more and now I have ended up with £3,000 worth of debt.'I started thinking about Christmas a couple of months ago and thought that the only way I’d be able to get my kids the presents they wanted was by borrowing the money.‘There were hundreds of presents under the tree. Their gran passed away this year so it was nice to be able to treat them.’

The
single mother has now criticised Wonga and the other firms for giving
her the loans without properly looking into her circumstances.She said:
‘It’s stupid really because I’m on benefits and there is no way I can
afford to pay it all back.’Miss McGill said that when she first
started using payday lenders, back in 2009, she was in a stable
relationship and she and her partner both had jobs.This meant she was
able to pay off the loans.‘But now I am on my own and unemployed,’
she said. ‘Wonga haven’t looked into my change of circumstances though,
and they’re still allowing me to borrow.’Miss McGill – who has taken
out pre-Christmas loans ranging from £80 to £380 – will need to start
paying them back next Thursday.


Lavish Christmas: The mother-of-two was able to
buy her children 'hundreds' of gifts with the £1,700 she received from
the eight companies


Struggle: The single mother, who is on benefits,
claims she will not be able to buy basic necessities when she starts
making the repayments


But she says she won’t be able to afford it and fears she will simply end up borrowing more.

‘WhenI start paying back the loans I won’t be able to pay the bills or buy
food, drink and necessities. Then I’ll start taking out more loans and
it will just be one big, messy, circle.’A spokesman for Wonga said
the company does not let people take out more than one loan at once.
Borrowers have to pay each one off in full before becoming eligible to
take out another.



Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d89_1...DY0Qoisk4Sm.99

Stupid cunt.

[Josy]

Have no sympathy for her at all she knew that she would have to pay it back and still got not 1 but 8 loans.

And now she blames the companies for giving her the money when she applied for them in the first place..

[Toy Soldier]

It is obviously a stupid thing to do, but the cynic in me suggests that she plans to declare herself bankrupt (and planned this all along) and so won't have to repay at all.

To be honest, the saddest part of this is that Christmas has become so commercialised that people really DO feel pressured to push themselves financially to "make christmas good" by buying shedloads of "stuff". It's tragic that she thinks buying all of this stuff for her kids is what will make her a "good mum". But that's the message that's pushed... especially at Christmas. Remember last year's littlewoods advert? The "My lovely lovely motherrrr" song about how great Mummy was, because she bought games consoles and TVs from littlewoods on credit? ... yeah.

This story aside, as she was obviously deliberately playing the system, I do think "payday loans" are an absolute shambles. They're just pseudo-legitimate loan sharks. Except that instead of breaking your legs, they take your stuff and "break" your ability to obtain normal credit by forcing people onto the credit blacklist. In my opinion, loans of any sort should be capped at an absolute MAXIMUM of 100% APR.

[joeysteele]

It was a really silly thing to do and she should have known better.

Having said that, it demonstrates too, the weaknesses of the payday loan lenders strongly.
For 8 of them to have loaned her the funds shows very bad judgement on their part and clearly little or even anything as to checking of her financial status.
The sooner they are tightened up on the better in my view.

[Mystic Mock]

I would only have to at a push have about 1 Loan to pay off, I mean 8 would be hard for two parents working to pay off, let alone a single Mother who's on benefits trying to pay off 8 Loans.

I however agree with some of the others on here and think that she's trying to scam the system.

[GypsyGoth]

She would make a great bank manager.

[MTVN]

C'mon let her off, it's Christmas

[Vicky.]

LOL. And to think I was refused ONE payday loan for £60 a few weeks back. And I have a bloody job

[smudgie]

Quite pathetic, why on earth would anyone need hundreds of presents under the tree?
Much better being able to feed your kids than go overboard at Christmas.

[Lee.]

I have to say, I sympathise with her.. When I was pregnant with my 2nd child, our business went down the tubes.. We went from being reasonably comfortable to not having enough money to pay the mortgage.. Luxuries were a nono and even food was a struggle... When it came to Christmas , I had to make sure Santa still came to my daughter. Unfortunately kids don't understand that Santa might be a bit skint this year.. I would have actually sold my body to make sure she had a good Christmas, and altghough I didn't go for payday loans, I did max my credit cards and applied for catilogue accounts and probably between my two kids and the rest of the family managed to spend over a grand on pressies!
We're back on our feet now, and I refuse to get into credit at Xmas time but if you have kids, there is a lot if pressure to ensure they get all the toys they want

[T*]

Not only is this mother stupid, the person who wrote the article is too. The main offender is the the Daily Mail. They REPEAT THE SAME SENTENCE OVER AND OVER

Meet the unemployed mother-of-two who borrowed
£1,700 from EIGHT payday loan companies to buy 'hundreds' of Christmas
presents... and now she says she can't pay any of them back
Katie McGil, 28, from Devizes, Wiltshire, now owes more than £3,000
Unemployed mother, who is on benefits, wanted to 'treat' her family
Claims she will be unable to provide for children when paying money back

A single mother on benefits funded her family’s entire Christmas by taking out eight payday loans.

Katie McGill, 28, borrowed around £1,700 from companies including the
controversial Wonga so she could treat her two children to a
traditional meal and expensive presents.It meant Mya-Renee, three,
and Calvin, eight, were each able to unwrap a new bike, a new TV and a
DVD player, as well as numerous computer games.

Payouts: Katie McGill, 28, wanted to 'treat' her children Mya-Renee, three, and Calvin, eight this Christmas

But now the celebrations are over, their mother is saddled with more than £3,000 of
debt – with only her benefits to use to pay it back.Miss McGill,
from Devizes in Wiltshire, started borrowing in the months leading up to
Christmas to pay for this year’s festivities.She ended up taking out eight of the controversial loans – which critics say charge sky-high rates – from various lenders.

She says the only way she will be able to pay them back is by using the
£140 of her fortnightly benefits that doesn’t already leave her account
through direct debits for various expenses.

Miss McGill said: ‘Each time I’ve borrowed money I’ve started borrowing more and more and now I have ended up with £3,000 worth of debt.'I started thinking about Christmas a couple of months ago and thought that the only way I’d be able to get my kids the presents they wanted was by borrowing the money.‘There were hundreds of presents under the tree. Their gran passed away this year so it was nice to be able to treat them.’

The
single mother has now criticised Wonga and the other firms for giving
her the loans without properly looking into her circumstances.She said:
‘It’s stupid really because I’m on benefits and there is no way I can
afford to pay it all back.’Miss McGill said that when she first
started using payday lenders, back in 2009, she was in a stable
relationship and she and her partner both had jobs.This meant she was
able to pay off the loans.‘But now I am on my own and unemployed,’
she said. ‘Wonga haven’t looked into my change of circumstances though,
and they’re still allowing me to borrow.’Miss McGill – who has taken
out pre-Christmas loans ranging from £80 to £380 – will need to start
paying them back next Thursday.


Lavish Christmas: The mother-of-two was able to
buy her children 'hundreds' of gifts with the £1,700 she received from
the eight companies


Struggle: The single mother, who is on benefits,
claims she will not be able to buy basic necessities when she starts
making the repayments


But she says she won’t be able to afford it and fears she will simply end up borrowing more.

‘WhenI start paying back the loans I won’t be able to pay the bills or buy
food, drink and necessities. Then I’ll start taking out more loans and
it will just be one big, messy, circle.’A spokesman for Wonga said
the company does not let people take out more than one loan at once.
Borrowers have to pay each one off in full before becoming eligible to
take out another.



Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d89_1...DY0Qoisk4Sm.99

The same thing. Over. And. Over.

[Z]

I was feeling a little bit sorry for her until I got to the quotes where she was blaming the companies for lending her the money in the first place. No sympathy whatsoever. It's like blaming a dog for biting you after you kicked it.

[Ammi]

..I read this story yesterday, I do think that it's an extreme amount of money to spend on young children and completely not necessary but I also think that it must be easy to confuse priorities if you feel as though your children don't get much and you're on benefits etc..the DM love to print stories like this...

[thesheriff443]

ben don't use the c word

she is to blame plain and simple, stupid person.

pay day loans need to be called stupid people loans.

[AnnieK]

If it were a choice between my son having a good Christmas and not, I'd do it.

[arista]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

ben don't use the c word

she is to blame plain and simple, stupid person.

pay day loans need to be called stupid people loans.

Why Not Ch4HD after 9PM
did on the Live Comedy Awards

[Beastie]

I have no sympathy for her. I can see why some people may borrow a few hundred quid for Christmas presents but that amount she borrowed just for Christmas presents in stupid.

[x-evenstar-x]

I think think people who take those loans are the most idiotic people ever!

In a way this I feel sad, not for her personally but for everyone in genral who feels they have to do that at Christmas time! My nana actually before Christmas spoke about getting a loan so she could by me and her other grandchildren more for Christmas and I was gob smacked! I couldn't believe she was suggesting such a thing, it broke my heart that she felt she had to do that, I would never want her to give use anything let alone more than she has. Needless to say she took out no loan and Christmas was just as nice as it always is.

[AnnieK]

A lot of people who take these loans have no other option or so they feel. Regular lines of credit are unavailable to them, bills stack up and some people face a choice of heat or eat. It's all very well calling them idiotic, but when you have children and no money to put food on the table as you've paid your gas bill to keep them warm...what would you do?

The woman in the OP has abused them but for some people they are an absolute last resort that they have to take. I would never judge people using these loans as I have been in the situation where I was worried about paying bills and feeding the household...

They should have much tighter sanctions on them but come on people don't judge unless you've lived that life..

[x-evenstar-x]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

A lot of people who take these loans have no other option or so they feel. Regular lines of credit are unavailable to them, bills stack up and some people face a choice of heat or eat. It's all very well calling them idiotic, but when you have children and no money to put food on the table as you've paid your gas bill to keep them warm...what would you do?

The woman in the OP has abused them but for some people they are an absolute last resort that they have to take. I would never judge people using these loans as I have been in the situation where I was worried about paying bills and feeding the household...

They should have much tighter sanctions on them but come on people don't judge unless you've lived that life..

That's a fair point, and it is wrong to call people who use these companies idiots, I apologise. But surely there are other means, theses company's make me sick the way they rip people off!

I can't say I've personally been in a dire situation with no money but I've been the child in a family that have and it's honestly heart breaking for me that my parents were in that situation, I would rather go a day or so with out food that see my parents turn to that! It has a devastating impact on families.

[x-evenstar-x]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

If it were a choice between my son having a good Christmas and not, I'd do it.

Seriously? You don't think he could have one christmas with less, christmas is not all about spending loads of money you know.

I'd hate my parents to think like that.

[Ammi]

..I completely agree with you, Annie...I think that whether it be loaned money or not, to spend that amount of money on your children for Christmas is extremely unnecessary because even if you can afford it, it doesn’t really teach them the ‘real value’ of Christmas, children don’t need all of that stuff and they’re very young for some of the gifts she bought...but I also think it must be quite easy to ‘get sucked in’ to peer pressure etc ...and she already owed almost half of what she borrowed for Christmas anyway, so she may have felt there was little hope of getting out of that debt anyway, so in for a penny etc..why not at least I’ll give my children one really ‘generous’ Christmas...

..yeah, of course it was her decision so essentially her own fault, it couldn’t be anyone else’s ...but we have no idea of her life,other than this story which only really tells us that she has done this one thing, which wasn’t the most ‘sensible’ thing to do...but then, who in their lives hasn’t done that at some point...


..it's just unfortunate that these loan companies exist and exploit...

[Nedusa]

She was clearly in the wrong for taking out these loans but these loan companys prey on poor people who are desparately short of money to the point of needing money just to survive a few days to next pay or benefit check. These companies then give these desparate people money and then charge them astronomical amounts of interest...!!!

They have NO Fcuking money how in gods name are they going to pay back these huge mounts of interest ??

They can't ever.... So we get stories like this one. These loan companies just try and prey on the most desparate people in Society, it's a disgrace they should be closed down immediately .

Have no sympathy in this case. They only have themselves to blame... Good luck to her these companies will never see any of the £1,700 again let alone any interest... Ha ha serve them right ....greedy Barstewards...!!!!

[Cherie]

She might be skint but spending 1700.00 on Christmas? Okay the oldest one probably wanted something expensive but the 3 year old? I understand she wanted to make Christmas special but she didn't need to spend 1700.00 to make that happen. I doubt her relatives expected much if anything due to her circumstances, greedy moo.

It's the £1700 that's the crazy part. I can sort of understand going in to debt to give your kids a great Christmas, but that amount is obscene. When is too much, too much?