Same Here. No need to tell you what you all already know. Of course this is a scam. I did verify this is indeed a scam by speaking to an FTC representative. It would not surprise me if some of these so called payday loan companies that anyone of us may have applied to on-line, turn out to be the culprits themselves.
Those of you who have applied on-line have experienced the same thing. You fill out an application, and within a very few minutes, your E-MAIL is bogged down by HUNDREDS of these compnaies, who, as it turns out, are NOT lenders, but 'brokers' who BROADCAST all of your personal information to multitudes of companies, who themselves, NEVER turn out to be lenders, but again 'BROKERS' who, if you 'complete' your application again, as it appears you are instructed to do in order to COMPLETE the process; in order to FINALLY get your loan; are doing nothing but recycling your application to another list of Brokers and so it goes. Occasionally there are actual 'LENDERS' , who operate OFFSHORE lending operations, who are therefore EXEMPT from US LENDING LAWS. (see my note at the end of this writing please)
FIRST: (and this is going to take some time ) UNSUBCRIBE to everyone of these e-mails that you get; DO NOT COMPLETE ANOTHER FORM! You will see or should have seen the disclosure on each, and everyone of these applications that you receive in your E-MAIL, that begins with 'We Are Not a Lender etc.... this disclosure is USUALLY not found UNTIL you reach the SECOND page of your applcation, but sometimes this diclosure is on the FIRST page, at the bottom, and in TINY PRINT. LOOK for this DISCLOSURE. If you see it DO NOT COMPLETE this applcation. YOU WILL BE OPENING yourself UP to SCAMMERS and FRAUD ATTEMPTS if you complete it. (Please see my note at the end of this writing)
These people are, in FACT, NOT LENDERS but are gatherers of information that MOST will turn around and SELL, to such SCAM organizations as those who we have all gotten phone calls from.
Of course the scammers pay these brokers for this information, because they have KNOWN PEOPLE , especially Senior Citizens, or those folks who have STRUGGLED for a long time and are timid because of their credit history, WHO WILL PAY UP.
Our own TELEVISION NEWS CHANNELS have reported such scams as having been SUCCESSFUL, thus these scammers keep it up, as they have been told that people fall for these scams.
FIRST-Do NOT just delete all of the E-Mails you have received (and will continue to receive for months). Take the time to UNSUBSCRIBE from each and every one of the E-MAILS you receive. Keep a LIST of company names, address and phone numbers that you can copy and send whne you make other reports to the police, FTC, FBI and the Secret Service.
SECOND- Do report ANY information, no matter how trivial you beleive it to be, to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). DO NOT report it to your LOCAL Police Department, UNLESS you have been THREATENED with PHYSICAL HARM, or unless your checking or savings account HAS BEEN illegally, or fraudulently tapped (stolen from).
THIRD- DO access your checking and Savings accounts everyday to see if there are TRANSACTIONS YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE. IF you see ANY TRANSACTIONS, NO MATTER HOW SMALL (these crooks have been known to run transactions through a persons account, ( a paper draft, similar to a check, however it is a similar item that is processed by your utility company, mortgage company, and other creditors that you may be paying by ON-LINE transaction, or you have established an ACH DEBIT (automatic debit, paid each month, by your authorization, on a specific day each month to a creditor) in order to avoid being late with a payment or even being troubled to remember to pay it on time each month.
I personally ran into BIG PROBLEMS by allowing certain creditors to be paid by ACH (automatic) payment each month and so I WILL NEVER SET UP AN ACCOUNT to be PAID THIS WAY AGAIN. My Mortgage company (another story) paid themselves more than once a month, abusing their privilege so I ENDED it for everyone.
ANYWAY, these CROOKS WILL run similar looking documents through you bank or credit union, but in small increments such as 16.21 or 29.32, however they will do this on successive days hopng that it does NOT RAISE a RED FLAG.
If you see transactions like these and you DO NOT RECOGNIZE the transaction and NO ONE in yor family, who is an authorized signer on your account, has made a purchase in these amounts, IMMEDIATELY,and on the SAME DAY, CONTACT your FINANCIAL INSTITUTION and REPORT these TRANSACTIONS as FRAUDULENT.
This process will be time consuming, but necessary. For example, my Credit Union requires that we complete a STATEMENT of CHECKING ACCOUNT FRAUD, call the police and file a report of Checking Account Fraud with the police, once we have the report from the police, we MUST include the Case Number on the Statement of checking account fraud, AND we MUST have our SiGNATURES NOTORIZED. Then if your bank or credit union is NOT LOCAL (ours is not) we must FAX the SIGNED, NOTORIZED, form to our CREDIT UNION, that same day, unless it is a weekend or Holiday, then we MUST make a copy for ourselves and MAIL the original to our CREDIT UNION.
What our CREDIT UNION or BANK WILL DO. 1. They will RETURN the draft (check looking thing) UNPAID (not debited or subtracted from your account balance). You will be advised that the draft (check) has been returned to who ever was trying to pay themselves from your account. They will also advise you that if the party who was NOT PAID from your checking account DISPUTES that the DEBIT (check) was NOT a FRAUDULENT transaction, then that party MUST SHOW PROOF that the DEBIT or check thay attempted to have paid from your checking account is LEGITIMATE. IF THEY (the payee) DOES SEND SOMETHING SHOWING your Bank or Credit Union that it WAS A LEGITIMATE DEBIT, YOUR Bank or Credit Union will HONOR that transaction and PAY the party.
I PROMISE YOU that IF INDEED it was a FRAUDULENT TRANSACTION, these CROOKS WILL NEVER DISPUTE your claim of fraud.
Once you have filed this with your BANK, also file this with the FTC (FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (ON-line at ftc.gov); with the FBI (ON LINE at fbi.gov). The FBI web site may refer you to your LOCAL FBI WEB SITE to file a dispute as well.
THEN, File a report with the SECRET SERVICE at secretservice.gov. The Secret Service handles Credit Card and any Financal fraud or Theft.
NEXT, your Financial Institution will advise you to close that account and open a new one with them. As long as the crooks have your OLD ACCOUNT information, ANY transaction they attempt to process through your OLD account WILL be returned as UNPAID, Account CLOSED.
This is where you may have more work to do, for example, IF your paycheck or Social Security Check is Direct Deposited and you HAVE NOT advised your employer or Social Security or ANY other DIRECT DEPOSIT Situation, that you have OPENED a NEW ACCOUNT, these DIECT DEPOSITS will be REFUSED and SENT BACK to the Sender (payor).UNDEPOSITED TO YOUR ACCOUNT.
Make CERTAIN you contact all DIRECT DEPOSIT SITUATIONS and GIVE THEM YOUR NEW ACCOUNT INFORMATION. Do NOT PANIC if for some reason your Direct Deposit was returned. Yes, it will delay your money getting to you on time, however if you Contact the Social Security Office IMMEDIATELY after not having received your funds, they will do ONE of TWO things at YOUR REQUEST.
They will have to wait unitl they receive the payment back from your Financial Institution, (about two to three days later) and then 1. They will MAIL you a REPLACEMENT CHECK or 2) they will re-deposit your check to your NEW ACCOUNT. Option Number TWO TAKES 10-15 DAYS.
NOTE: to EXPEDITE your process with the Social Security Office, CONTACT your CONGRESSMAN in your DISTRICT, tell him what has happened and your funds will get to you even faster. AMAZING !
Be certain to contact anyone,( ie.life isurance premiums, the electric or gas company, mortgage company, ANYONE AND EVERYONE that you have set up Automatic payments (exept for payday loan companies) OR ANYONE and EVERYONE that you may have SCHEDULED a ONE TIME PAYMENT TO, and GET YOUR INFORMATION CHANGED ! PRONTO !!.
If for some reason your payment may have already processed to your OLD Account, call the PAYEE(creditor who you owe) and tell them what happened. Be prepared to pay them Immediately with your NEW ACCOUNT Information, and ask then to reverse ANY RETURN CHECK FEE. Under the circumstances, and IF you are polite and courteous during your call, they will forgive any penalties or return check fees. Even Credit Card companies become kind in this instance, however be prepared (and NICE), should they ask for PROOF (fax then a copy of the CHECKING ACCOUNT notorized Statement of Fraud which you had to file with your Financial Institution. BE NICE BE CALM and everyhing will work out IN YOUR FAVOR.
One more thing, (well two more including my important note that follows_ Even if the Scammers or Crooks have NOT attempted theft from your checking account, you MAY WANT to OPEN A NEW CHECKING ACCOUNT ANYWAY, because you KNOW they already have your information, especially if YOU APPLIED for a PAYDAY LOAN ON-LINE.
Do explain to your financail institution why you feel it is important to close and re-open a new account, this will avoid any RED FLAGS that could be posted to a new account.
YES, this is a GREAT DEAL to have to DEAL WITH. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER complete a LOAN APPLICATION of ANY KIND ON-LINE. (UNLESS you KNOW the COMPANY, such as your BANK ) that you are doing business with and ON THEIR SECURED WEB SITE.
GGOD LUCK, BE SAFE
NOW HERE IS the important NOTE I want to share with you.
IF YOU are in a position of needing a short term loan (a/k/a/ PayDay Loan). There are LEGITIMATE COMPANIES with FREE STANDING OFFICES (an ACTUAL BUSINESS LOCATION), that are LICENSED by your STATE and who MUST FOLLOW U.S. LENDING LAWS as well as YOUR STATES LAWS.
Face it today MOST of US are LIVING PAYCHECK to PAYCHECK and occasionally we need a helping hand. It is NOT comfortable for some of us to turn to our families at times like these, we turn to what ever source we think may help us. PLEASE DON'T turn to the internet for help in these situations, even if some of the LICENSED payday loan companies have registered web sites.
GO to THEM, conduct our business in person. Yes, I know it will be embarassing to many of us if someone we know sees us doing business at a payday loan company. However, I know that these companies MUST follow laws of confidenciality, AND THEY DO.
GO TO AN OFFICE ONE TOWN away. Trust me these legitimate companies UNDERSTAND and will work with you. They LEND without contacting anyone, UNLESS YOU FAIL to PAY THEM BACK, but then THEY TOO are OBLIGATED to FOLLOW the laws of the FAIR DEBT COLLECION PRACTICES ACT. (FDCPA)
GOOD LUCK
WISHING US ALL a PROSPEROUS, HEALTHY, and WISE NEW YEAR
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