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Every day Rose would receive numerous phone calls from various companies. "It got to a point where they were threatening and harassing,"she recalls. "They were persistent. They sent letters. There were a few times there were calls at night. I wasn't happy. I wasn't concentrating on university like I should have. I was concentrating on finding work to pay it off."It wasn't until her husband's parents helped out that the couple managed to break free of the debt. "My in-laws have lent us the money to pay it off. We're paying them back monthly, but it's not so terrifying," says Rose. "But it's still haunting us. We came very close to declaring ourselves bankrupt. We have no chance of getting a mortgage for a long, long time. I got rejected opening a bank account."Rose is not the only student to have struggled with loan sharks. In 2013, 21-year-old Swansea University student Courtney Mitchell Lewis killed himself after seeing a £100 [$145 USD] debt soar to £800 [$1,167 USD] in the space of just three months. His was a rare and tragic case, and it would be irresponsible to suggest the debt was the sole reason for his suicide, but equally the added stress couldn't have had a positive impact on his mental health.Read on Noisey: John Cale's 21st Century—Music for a New Society
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Of all the payday loan companies, Asquith is most wary of Smart Pig. "They try and package them up as 'student-friendly,' but look behind the nice branding and it's just like Wonga or any other payday lender," she explains. "We need far more regulation on these companies."Read on Broadly: Trans Whistleblower Chelsea Manning Gives Exclusive Interview on Life in Prison
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