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Christmas comes early for Provident borrowers with debts written off

Emma Lunn
Written By:
Emma Lunn
Posted:
Updated:
23/12/2021

Both Provident and Satsuma will close on 31 December 2021 – and will stop collecting loan payments.

The announcement will be good news for tens of thousands of borrowers with the high interest lenders, both owned by Provident Personal Credit.

Provident sold ‘doorstep’ loans where the cash was delivered to customers’ homes and payments also collected in cash. Loans had a typical APR of 535.3%. Satsuma sold short-term loans with the same typical APR.

Provident hasn’t disclosed the average balance that will be wiped or the exact number of people who’ll have their loans written off, but the move will mean thousands of borrowers will have their debt written off by the end of the year.

Affected borrowers should receive an email or letter explaining that they can stop making repayments on receipt of the notification – even if that’s before 31 December.

A statement on Provident Personal Credit’s website said: “We’ve made the decision to close Provident Personal Credit (PPC) on 31st December 2021. If you have a balance outstanding with PPC, we’ll be clearing it on that date.

“Over the years, we’ve been proud to help people who needed a loan. However, the tough economic situation meant that Provident stopped lending earlier this year and now we’re closing altogether.

“There is nothing you need to do.  You can stop making payments on your outstanding loans owed to PPC and if your payments are taken by the Continuous Payment Authority (CPA), we will stop these for you. Any payments made after 31st December 2021 will be paid back to you.

“If you’re in arrears or didn’t pay your loan within the time we agreed when you got your loan, we’ll update your file with our Credit Reference Agency to show the balance as zero and partially settled.”

A similar statement has been published on Satsuma’s website.

Provident stopped offering loans to new customers in May. The firm had faced a wave of mis-selling complaints by customers, partly driven by claims management companies. Earlier this year it warned that its consumer credit division could collapse into administration because of the deluge of compensation claims.