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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:23 pm

I had some very scary phone calls in the past few days the calls were from a man his name is EW SteinhartI was wondering if anyone knows this person?If so could you please let me know.Today I got 2 phone calls from preligation, he told me he was pressing fraud charges a against me and he said that I was going to jail,because I stopped payments from coming out of my savings,they already have taken $1312.00 and get this tjm marketing and epayday and platinum v services are all the same place and they debit your account for each one not just the payday loan you have (one) thats why the money adds up so fast this is B-SH-T.

Jerkball · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:06 pm

Scare is exactly what it is meant to be. The best defense against these things is to not deal with them. I used to work in collections, briefly, and went through a ton of training. The first and most effective step is to get you on the phone and to get in your ear. If they can't do that, they are useless. Change your phone# or don't answer. Just don't deal with them.

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:21 pm

Thank you, you made me feel better, these guys are really scarey. I talked to the police department in my city to ask if they could could come and get me at me work and they laughed about it. I forgot to say that Mr. Steinhart's supervisor told me he was going to enforce the Martha Stewart Act of 2006 and invoke the Constitution of the United States to prosecute me. When I asked them for their address he said they don't have a mailing address, because they don't accept US Mail. I asked what city they are in and he said Jax, FL. I even had him spell it for me, there is no such place. Thanks again.

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:22 am

Use caller id and an answering machine to screen your calls. Don't talk to anyone you don't particularly want to talk to. Check out "call trace" options with your local phone company and find out what that's good for where you live.

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:49 am

I've had the scare tactis on my answering machine. When I call them back they seemed to change their tone a little bit.

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:56 am

I've had this happen to me. When we first went into consolidation they even called my mother-in-law and told her something about "bank fraud", that shook her up. If you're in consolidation talk to your counselor and have your counselor call them back. Send them a cease & desist and don't answer your phone if you have caller ID. Don't let them intimidate you which isn't easy but stand up for yourself. Smile

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:46 am

I'm hoping that someone can help me, I have a cash advance with Cash Transfer Centers, which in the last couple of days, I've found out they have many names, PRL...Sonic. Anyway, I defaulted on the loan, I admit that, and it's not that I'm trying to run from my responsibilities, I am actively trying to pay them. I asked if I could make payment arrangements, they said no...they are threatning to garnish my paycheck...I guess what I want to know is if they can do that...why won't they let me make payment arrangements...can they take me to court?...I heard about this place called T & C, but can't find any information on line...Can anybody help me?

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:49 am

Sonic is one of the hardest lenders to deal with. They think that threatening people will get their money faster. You need to send Sonic a wage revocation letter asap. You can fax and send the letter by certified mail with return receipt requested. That way you have proof that they received the wage revocation and give a copy to your employer letting them know you have revoke the wage assignment. I will pm you the info to T&C right now.

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:58 am

Can they really garnish my paycheck though...and will T & C help me if I only owe a small amount like under 1000?

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:59 am

Dream_Big77:

First off, you should probably post this as a new topic or search through the forums for the name of the company.

But, in response, I'd point out that your responsibilities are determined by law. And if the company you're talking about uses a bunch of different names, it's probably not a legal company. If that's true, you have no responsibility to repay them over what they originally loaned you. So you're probably not "in default" because it's probably not a valid debt. If you email me privately, I may be able to help you find the statutory authority that governs such operations in your state.

They can't collect interest, fees, garnish your wages, have you arrested, or any such thing as that legally. What they'll do instead is a series of illegal transfers out of your bank account.

My suggestion is that you close whatever bank accounts you've told the payday loan company about, right quick. And if, for some other logistical reason you can't close those accounts, give the bank written directions telling them not to honor any purportedly preauthorized transactions from those companies. Tell them (at a minimum) only to pay those whom you identify in written instructions personally signed by you. Then if you've got car payments, mortgage payments, insurance premiums, or what have you, you can identify those to the bank in writing as authorized debits.

If you go into the bank's office, you can get one of the desk people to sit down with you and identify the transactions that have already occurred and that will help them stop payment on any future requests that come in over the wire. It's best to close the account, though, because those guys will change the request and pretend to be someone else with a preauthorized transfer.

Do check on your state's law about payday loans, find out whether that company is licensed in your state. Here's a rule of thumb, though - if they don't have a mailing address (that's a refusal to accept tender of payment btw, that waives their right to collect), and you don't know and can't find out the true and correct name of the business, then there is no contract and you don't owe them anything. You can't owe money to a person that doesn't exist.

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:59 am

and I'm from North Carolina, they won't be able to help me, as I've just found out from the postings here Sad

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:27 am

I'm not sure whom you're referring to when you say "They" in "They won't be able to help me."

All lenders of amounts less than $10,000 are required to be licensed in N.C. - see the N.C. code, chapter 53, article 15, "Consumer Finance Act".

The maximum interest rate is 36% on up to the first $600 and 15% on anything over that, expressed as an annual simple interest rate which can be assessed daily on the unpaid principal balance. In addition, the lender can charge a fee which is a maximum of five percent or $25, whichever is less. Section 53-173.

Payday lenders are regulated by the N.C. Commissioner of Banks. http://www.nccob.org/NCCOB

See, in particular, N.C. Code � 53-190 "Loans made elsewhere".

I notice that neither the "about us" nor the "contact us" sections of the CashTransferCenters website contain any information that identifies a legitimate business name or address. A "whois" check on the domain name indicates it is owned by people in Sliema, on the island of Malta.

Neither "cashtransfercenters", "mycashtransfercenter" or anything starting with "northway" (the name the Malta people are using) are licensed in N.C.

Conclusion: You don't owe those people anything and they can't sue you (except possibly in Malta - do you own real estate in Malta?).

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:34 am

No, I don't own any property in Malta. I don't mean to sound dumb, but I need this explained to me a little simpler (I'm sorry).

Can they garnish my check?
Can they contact my employer?
Will they take me to court?

As far as blocking them from my checking account, I would have to block them under every name they have, is that correct?

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:41 am

>>No, I don't own any property in Malta. I don't mean to sound dumb, but I need this explained to me a little simpler (I'm sorry).

= Sorry, it was a joke - when you sue someone, the usual and best way to collect on a judgment is to seize whatever real estate they own within the same jurisdiction in order to pay the judgment off. The point was, that if you don't own any real property in Malta, then you probably don't care whether anyone sues you there - it can't affect you in N.C.

>> Can they garnish my check?

=No.

>>Can they contact my employer?

Anyone who wants to can contact your employer. A "debt collector" (as opposed to a lender) has to stop doing so if you tell them to. If they do call your employer, tell your employer it's an extortion scheme, 'cause that's what it is; it's no different from "pay us money or we'll burn down your business". That is, tell the employer to ignore the calls, or if the employer's unhappy about the calls, to call the police and report the harassment and interference with the employer's business. You don't owe those people anything, I'm thinking.

> Will they take me to court?

=I'd say it's a safe bet they're not going to take you to court. By protecting themselves from lawsuits by locating in funny places, not getting licensed, etc., they've also given up the ability to sue you in any meaningful way (like I said before, perhaps they could sue you in Malta...).

>>As far as blocking them from my checking account, I would have to block them under every name they have, is that correct?

=That's why I suggested giving the bank a list of the AUTHORIZED debits and telling the bank to block anyone who's NOT on the list. Even if you list all the names you know of now, they'll start using new names you haven't blocked as soon as they find the well's dried up.

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:48 am

Okay, so if I break they payments down in monthly installments, they will take the money right, because like I say I do owe them.

So, I just need to write them a cease communication letter so they can't contact my job, is that true?

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