Whilst trying to recover from anxiety and depression, Bryan was turned down for a £200 application by a well-known payday loan firm, but says the company told him ‘friends’ of the firm could help. He was bombarded by hundreds of texts, phone calls and emails over the following six months. Many were from different companies, after his details were sold on. He was told the only way to stop the calls was to text back each time, at a cost of £3.50. He says, “I never, ever thought it was like this. They are so callous. They are awful.”