Oklahoma tribes named in payday lending lawsuit
[URL="http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/authors.aspx?a=JARREL-WADE-"]By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer[/URL]
Published: 4/3/2012 2:28 AM
Last Modified: 4/3/2012 7:50 AM
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against several Oklahoma tribes alleging their payday lending businesses are illegally levying costs against customers.
FTC officials filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, naming several Oklahoma tribal entities as defendants, including the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma's AMG Services and Tribal Financial Services, and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma's Red Cedar Services.
A call to Miami Chief Tom Gamble was not returned Monday, and a spokeswoman for the Modoc Tribe said they had "no comment."
Also named as defendants are Internet-based loan sites Ameriloan, UnitedCashLoans, USFastCash and 500FastCash.
Monday's lawsuit is the second in seven months filed by the FTC against payday lenders, according to a release.
Payday loan companies have come under fire for allegedly masking fees, violating legal lending practices and falsely threatening customers with arrest and imprisonment for failing to pay back bills, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants have violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Truth in Lending Act and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act.
According to a release, the FTC files complaints when it has "reason to believe" that a law has been violated and it appears to the commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.
The Federal Trade Commission vote to allow staff to file the complaint was unanimous at 4-0.
"According to documents filed by the FTC over the last five years, the defendants' deceptive and illegal tactics have generated more than 7,500 complaints to law enforcement authorities," according to the FTC release about the lawsuit. "In many cases, the defendants' inflated fees left borrowers with supposed debts of more than triple the amount they had borrowed."
Though the organizations claim tribal affiliation with several tribes in Oklahoma and Nebraska, the alleged owners and many of the organizations are in Nevada, where the lawsuit was filed.
As relief, the lawsuit asks the court to order an immediate injunction on payday loans, restitution for alleged victims and a forfeiture of all assets gained through allegedly illegal actions.
Original Print Headline: Suit filed against tribal lenders
Posts: 4159
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Great news!! And in the case of Ameriloan, much deserved!! What an obnoxious company--and yes, back in the day when I was PDL'ing, I had a PDL with them.
Debt Samaritan
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Thank you I just thought the community needed to know. They actually called me last night and this morning. I believe one call was from United Cash Loans and the other was from Ameriloan. I filed another complaint with the FTC last night and named them both because I knew the other call was coming! It's crazy they just don't let up!
Posts: 1760
Credits: 17372.15 Send message to sdchargers_63
WOW!!!! That's wonderful!! I use to deal with a few of those lenders. Hopefully something like that will happen to other PDL's, as well.
I keep getting nasty messages from a certain company that leaves the same basic message every time. But here is the red flag. These messages are left by people with Indian (dot not feathers) accents or other non-american accents and they say there name is Teresa Green, John Carlson, Brian Smith, and Tom Brooks. Now, after listening to these messages the above names certainly do no match the accents these people speak with.
I would like to know if anyone else has experienced this, or know what type of scam they are up to?
Debt Samaritan
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Credits: 5772.75 Send message to danettere
That is what they do they will employ people that are not in this country to attempt to get them to do their dirty work if you check their websites they have employment apps and they probably recruit people and commission them on the monies they collect! I wouldn't worry about register your number with the donotcall registry and file complaints when they call you.
Posts: 4159
Credits: 44190.063946819 Send message to kscornell
Also tell them you will file police reports with your local PD. In 99 percent of all cases, this will scare them off, as I discovered in my personal experiences.
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