Ohio - Need Help!!

Hi. I'm in Ohio too and have been in your shoes. I still am, but maybe with one toe sticking out!
Read any and all posts you can on this site. It is extremely helpful! Through this site I learned about Town and Country, who should be able to consolidate all of your pdls into one payment. Find out which are legal, though. A moderator should be here soon to help with that.
Hang in there!

You've done your homework, good for you. An Internet lender must be licensed in Ohio, to lend to Ohio residents. Sometimes, there are lenders that go by a dba, so my advice is to place the name of these companies into the search box in the upper right hand corner of this forum and do a little research to see if perhaps any of them have dba's. Once you discover the dba names, search in the licensee data base for the dba. Another suggestion and much quicker, is to call the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions and ask, they have been very helpful to me, thier number is: (614) 728-8400. You will only owe the principal amount to the illegal ipdl's, no fees, no interest. I have a sample letter if you would like a copy, to send to them, I sent my letters through email. Be persistent, and do not give up, it will work out. If you would like a copy of the letter, just let me know. HAve you secured your bank account yet?

Thanks for the new posts.

I have done research, and have found that none of these are legal in Ohio. Period.

I haven't secured my account yet, but have also not defaulted yet. I have a lot of questions about securing my account. For starters, I have two checking accounts. ameriloan is through National City. The other six are through my credit union. That scares me right there, as I believe at least 500 fast cash IS amerlioan. That means they have both of my accounts on record. I have no problem closing my National City account if necessary. But I've been banking at my credit union for 30 years - since I was a young kid. I really LOVE the place, and don't want to leave. I am going to call the ACH processors for all of these pdls - though I don't yet know what processors any use (I believe Ameriloan and 500 fast cash use intercept?) - and notify them of the revocation. And for now, at least, I intend to place a stop payment on them. But how does a "hard freeze" work? If I put a "hard freeze" on my account, can I still withdrawal money in person with proper ID? Or is the money off limits entirely? I have direct deposit, and I believe it will take at least two paychecks before payroll will get the switch to a new account. Can I simply put a freeze on all ACH debits? I'm slightly confused about my options. I definitely need access to my paycheck, and I don't want to close my account if ACH debits will force it back open.

I also need to know if C&D letters work. I am a high school teacher, and it would NOT look good if I have these companies harassing me at school. : (

I figured that filing complaints with the AG, BBB, and FTC - in addition to revocation / c&d letters - would stop that from happening, but I'm not sure. Has anyone from Ohio filed with these agencies? Does the Ohio AG take action? And can someone walk me through HOW to file a complaint with all of them. What is my complaint? Misrepresentation? Billing? Collections? I don't know what to address.

Also, does anyone have ACH processor information about these seven companies?

Thanks.

By the way, how do I register to become a member of the forum? I figure I'll be here until this mess is taken care of...

Oh, and Shazzers, I would very much like to see your sample letters, if you wouldn't mind. Thanks again!

Oh, and one more thing...

I currently have an account with Town & Country for storefront pdls - that's another story from a PREVIOUS mistake.

I got into a mess with storefronts a while ago, but they are now pretty much taken care of. This new mess started in late May; I am so ANGRY at myself, because I DID know better, but at the time I had NO other options. My credit is not particularly good, and I have no family or friends to borrow from. When unexpected bills came up, I had to get them taken care of ASAP. Alas, back into pdl hell.

Can I add new companies to my existing T&C account?

Credit Unions are a little different to deal with then a regular bank, if I were you, I think I would tell them that this is a case of identity theft, and ask if they would please place a hard debit block on your accounts, that will save you some explaining. A hard debit block is going to prevent ANYthing from coming out of your account, so if you need cash, get it out before you take this action.

Remember, before you contact the processors, you need to send an ACH revocation letter/email to these companies. Here is a sample letter, you can tailor it to your needs. :)


Quote:

But the hard debit may make it impossible for me to pay my other bills. As I said the payroll department usually takes two cycles to get direct deposit switched to a new account. Is it possible to place a "stop payment" on the pdls initially prior to one paycheck, then hard debit and open a new account by the next paycheck? Will that likely hold them off (if ach processors have been notified as well)?

I really doubt if a stop payment will work, it may work the first time around, but pdl's have a habit of changing thier names, they will do anything to get to your money. I wouldn't feel safe with a stop payment. :?

ASM,
Go to the bank and ask if they can route your direct deposit to a newly opened account at the same bank. I have seen it done before.

If they would be willing to do that it would be a life saver!

So, let me get the sequence correct...

1. Secure my account
2. File complaints with AG, FTC, BBB
3. Send revocation / c&d letters
4. Call ACH processors
5. Wait...

Is this correct? I really wish I could find out if the Ohio AG aggressively goes after the illegal pdls. I've read some threads on here where people got out of this mess fairly easy after AG, BBB, FTC got involved. Others seem to get out painlessly after Intercept has been notified.

Still, others seem to have months and months of grief. Does it depend on the pdl, the person you talk to, the time of day, or a combination of the above?

You are correct. ameriloan and 500FastCash use Intercept as their processor. They also use Bremer Bank as the originator of the loan. Sorry I don't know the others but I will try and find some additional information.

The FTC was fairly effective in my case. I'm not sure what's going on with the AG since Marc Dann got caught with his hands in the cookie jar and was forced to resign. :lol: Nancy has taken it over, but I wouldn't count on much help from her with so much dishevel going on, unless of course Nancy is a bit more ambitious and not as interested in cookies like Marc Dann was. :lol:

Thanks llw! And thanks for the insight, Shazzers. This forum is extraordinary!! I feel so much better about all of this. :)

asm. . you are quite welcome. I remember the relief I felt when I first came here and people started responding to my plight. I honestly can say, I slept that first night and didn't wake up worrying about the PDLs in the morning. I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of me. Shazz. . your situation sounds like mine here in New York. Seems that once our dear friend Elliott got caught with something of his somewhere that it didn't belong, everything has gone downhill here as well. The AG's office really wasn't much help to me and by the time they did respond, I had already cleared all of my PDLs myself.

I am a little confused...again. Okay, I know I can't contact the ACH processors until after I've sent the revocation letters. But can I contact them right after the letters are sent, or do I need to wait until the pdls ignore the revocation letters and debit my account anyway?

I've also been thinking - When I place a hard debit on my checking, I want to route my direct deposit into a savings account. I figure I will pay all of my bills with money orders instead of checking. Does this sound "safe"? If the pdls can find new checking accounts through available databases, can they also find savings accounts??

Any luck finding the processors for my remaining pdls? I've been looking, and I *think* they're all intercept. Am I right?

You can contact them immediately after the letters are sent. As far as the savings account, I'm not sure if I would be comfortable doing that, usually a savings has the same acount number, but perhaps you could check with your bank and find out. Let's see if someone else has some input on this. :)

Once the letters have been sent go ahead and contact the processor. They will only want to be sure that you have revoked with the PDL and your bank also knows that there is a revocation. You should have two separate account numbers for your savings and checking accounts but they could be linked. I actually had the deposits go into my savings account (until my bank got a little testy with all the activity into my savings as it was not designed for that) but that was at the same time that I closed both of my accounts. The PDLs can find anything in my opinion. I wouldn't take any chances with my money and I would not leave any stone unturned as far as they are concerned. They have your social so God knows what they could or would do with it. Can you just close the accounts and open a new one? I closed mine and reopened another immediately. My bank assured me that any ACH's would not force it open and that NONE of the same ACH's would go through my new account. I don't know if the PDLs honored my revocation requests or if the bank rejected them but to the best of my knowledge, there were no attempts after I closed it and notified them of such. Keep us posted.