Thanks for the information. That gives me something to work with.
But this is the real problem that started all of this to begin with...and I have seen many posts on here related to the same companies:
I had a couple of payday loans in effect at the early part of November, which would have been fine, until on November 8, 2006, a deposit of $300.00 was credited to my account, by a company under the name of Magnum Z LLC. I have since come to learn after reading other posts on here, that Magnum Z LLC and Westbury Ventures are one and the same.
On November 17,2006, Magnum Z LLC withdrew $90.00 from my account, which I take was a finance charge.
Shortly after this, I then had another deposit of $300.00 credit to my account from Geneva Roth. Neither one of these companies ever contacted me prior to depositing funds into my account, and I have been unable to locate any payday loan websites associated with these companies, except for LoanpointUSA.com, which I will get to further into this post.
Geneva Roth then withdrew $90.00 on 12/26/06, and I believe earlier, but I do not have all of my bank information from December, as my bank was made aware of these transactions and suggested I close the account, which I did on 12/14/06. However, the bank merely opened up a new account and all existing ACH debits simply moved over to the new account, not solving any of my problems.
Also in December, the Magnum Z LLC debits suddenly changed names to Westbury Collection. On 12/26, Westbury withdrew $60.00, not even the normal $90.00 that they had been debiting from my account. Then on 12/29/06, they withdrew $125.00, and another debit of $100.00 on 01/05/07, with Geneva Roth right behind them, debiting $90.00 on 01/08/07.
Now keep in mind, neither of these companies had ever contacted me, and I had no loan documents to show that I ever took out a loan with either company or any of their "spin off names." What was really funny was that I began receiving emails from Deborah Turner-Bey at Westbury Ventures, stating that my loan was delinquent...these were accompanied by an attached form that I was supposed to complete and send back to them, authorizing ACH debits from my account. I never returned this form as I felt that would give them something in writing authorizing them to debit my account, which they were already doing. So why need my bank information?
Needless to say, my bank closed this second account due to being severely overdrawn as a result of these transactions and inititated a fraud claim. On January 19,2007, I received another email from Westbury Ventures, to which I replied, "Are you aware that a fraud claim has been filed against your company and legal action is in process for failure to provide any evidence of valid loan arrangments between your company and the party that you are attempting to contact." Low and behold, this email got my first response from Westbury Ventures, claiming that I was the one committing fraud. Further into the email, it stated that I had my loan with Debt Doctors, another spin off name. I searched on the Internet for any websites that were under Debt Doctors that offered payday loans and found none. I replied to this email on January 19, 2007 and requested copies of my loan documents. Deborah Turner-Bey's response was :
"I will be happy to provide original loan documents when you provide evidence that you are the original debtor. Please complete and notarize the attached release and your documents will be forwarded immediatly."
I wasn't falling for that either. No Consumer should have to get a form notarized in order to be provided with loan documents, especially containing their own personal and financial information. These emails went away until recently,when I received one saying to use my tax refund to settle my obligation. Not happenign either.
As for Geneva Roth, they were emailing extension forms to a different email address than Westbury Ventures was emailing me on, to fax back to LoanpointUSA authorizing the loan be extended or paid down. I never returned any of these forms for the same reason.
I have now started getting messages left on my work number from a "Mary" at GRC. I have not returned any of her calls, because I want any communication documented in writing, not by phone. I went onto the Loanpointusa.com website and completed the application for a payday loan under a friends name, too see if in fact you could download an application from this site. You can. What was interesting though, was at the end of the application process, they provide you with a pre-printed fax cover sheet and request that you fax them a copy of a void check, a recent bank statement, and recent pay stub. I know for a fact that I have never faxed any personal information to company in order to obtain an internet payday loan. That I would remember doing and would have kept the fax for reference.
Do I just sit tight now and wait for something from them in the mail? I am kind of hoping that is what happens, because I would like to be able to trace back to who might own a P.O. Box or something like that and put a stop to these kind of scams.
In the case of Westbury Ventures, they took over $465.00 out of my account for a $300.00 loan, and that would have continued if my bank hadn't closed my account.
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