Payday Loan Hell in New York

Of course you are aware that payday loans are illegal in your state so I will provide you with a link regarding illegal lenders.
CLICK HERE to find out how to deal with illegal lenders.

I have followed the recommended steps and I have now received a PIF e-mail from VIP Cash who originally owed me $60 for my overpayments. They quoted me as "having a misunderstanding regarding the conditions of my loan".
I have also received an offer from Webpay thru the BBB of Houston to settle my account for $94 which is the difference between my payments on a second loan and the principal of the second loan. I paid $575 more than the principal on my first loan with Webpayday and I requested a refund of 481 which is the total that my payments exceeded the principal amounts of both loans that I took out with them. What does the community think? Should I settle for the $94 and be done with them or should I hold out for my $481 refund? I have filed a complaint with the NY Attny General but I have not heard anything as of yet and supposedly my settlement offer from Webpayday is only good until Aug 3.
Deperately seeking opinions and advice!

Well as stated before NY PDLs are Illegal at all costs. So the internet loans have no legal recourse against you.

It is very rare a PDL company applies old interest collected on a prior loan towards a newer loan. With that being said, It is highly unlikely you will get that $481 refund. In the end the decision depends of you want them to go away or you wanna stay and fight. Remember you have the laws on your side, so that helps you out alot. Stand fast and send them another proposal for the refund and see what they say. Does not hurt to try :wink: Best of luck!

good luck! you are on the right track :)

I would keep hammering them every couple of days with emails asking for refunds. It works, but it takes a while.

I have followed the suggestions of this site and as of this moment, of the 13 outstanding loans that I had of which 12 were overpaid, I have now received a full refund from one (ACC-The Cash Spot), and Paid in Full correspondence from 4 others (Ace Cash Services, GECC, Jet Lending, and VIP Cash) although none of the four gave me a refund that I asked for. To my surprise the NY Attny general rejected all of my complaints saying that it was out of scope for their office and that I should check with a private attorney. I also sent a complaint to the NY State Banking Dept for the SSM Group who took my complaint and forwarded it to the state of Missouri Banking Dept where SSM has a physical address but I still have heard nothing from them. I have gone back and forth through the BBB fighting with Webpayday , US Fast Cash, United Cash Loans for a refund but they continue to resist and continue to maintain that my complaint letter was "full of misleading and inaccurate statements for which they will not respond". Any suggestions on where to go next in my dipute with US Fast Cash, United Cash Loans or Webpayday? Webpayday wants me to contact them in order to get me to settle on a final payment of $94 when I have already overpaid a prior loan by $575. Seeking advice on what to do next and try to maintian my momemtum!

the attorney general in my state (new jersey) is also pretty useless, they told me to go to the BBB, who we all know does nothing..
I would not pay them anything else if you have given them the prinicpal already.. if all else fails, just keep sending the letters. if you do owe them, send them letters demaning for a physical address to send money orders to. just keep sending the letters, eventually they will have to cave in.

DDBIZ,

what luck if any did you have with Kenwood Services ?

I would not pay Webpayday anything additional. Tell them to take the balance they "say" is due from what you overpaid. They will not send you a refund. All I got was a PIF e-mail when they owed me around $250. I'm satisfied to be done with them.

webpayday is no longer doing business accordng to their website so please just forget about them, send them no more money

I just wanted to say that I have had little success with Kenwood Services. They have forwarded my account to collections at NCR and have not responded to any of my e-mails. I have filed a complaint with the Delaware BBB on them since they used a Delaware address and in the past the Delaware BBB has been extremely helpful in getting my refund from ACC-The Cash Spot and PIF letter from GECC. Kenwood has ignored the BBB requests and I am now aware of a second request for the business to respond to the Delaware BBB but I am not expecting much. I am now writing a complaint letter to the Delaware Attny general's office and Delaware Division of Financial Institutions since Kenwood is ignoring the BBB and the New York AG does not seem to care.

I have done some research on Ameriloan, US Fastcash, United Cash Loans, and see that they are run by Indian tribes who claim exemption from state laws due to tribal sovereignty. I also see that the Attorney General of West Virginia was successful in getting these companies to settle outstanding internet loans and give out refunds. Has anyone in the community had any first hand experience with this. In light of these settlements by the WVA Attny General has anyone been able to get them to agree to refunds or give out PIF letters? Very curious!

Quote:

shazzers is correct about the tribal laws. there has been some debate wit this topic but they are not legal in your state.. unfortunately there will be some companies in which you will not get official closure.. if you paid the principal to an illegal company and they will not respond in your letters the best you might have to do is be glad they are over with and move on with your life.

I have been able to log into the 247 Advances website and I posted the C&D letter informing them that I have overpaid the $200 principal of the loan by $688 due to the payment of twelve $74 renewal fees. Of course the company gave the usual line that they are not subject to US federal or state laws because the loan is governed by the laws of Malta. See below:The Loan Agreement, to which we have adhered to by funding the loan, detailed that your loan was subject to the Arbitration Laws of Malta, a fact by which you confirmed your understanding and acceptance of via the online signature you made. Please note, we are not a US company, have never prescribed to be a US company and have no US presence, as such are not subject to the US laws you detail. Please refer to your copy of the Loan Agreement. Under the terms of the Agreement you consented to make payments via ACH until the loan was satisfied in full. Your loan account is currently in default due to returned payments and an account that has been closed. We will continue to make all reasonable attempts to make contact and to attempt collection of all funds due and payable to enable the loan agreement to be satisfied, as per the original provisions. Customer Services

What do I do now?

Dbbiz,

if you overpaid like it says, I would NEVER give them another dime. You might not get refunded your overpayment but eventually they'll stop bothering you. I am also fighting PDLs, I am in NY too

I'm so confused with NY Laws! I received this email from NY today when I asked them about internet payday loans being illegal in NYS:


"We advise that Payday Loans are illegal if they violate the Usury Ceiling of 25% p.a. and are physically located in New York. Most Payday Loan companies operate over the internet and have physical locations in States where there is no Usury Ceiling. When you borrow from one of these internet Payday lenders you are deemed to be taking a loan in their State of domicile."

Chris, I mentioned your quote on another thread. it seems to go against how i thought New York Laws where? Who exactly did you recieve that from?

That confused me too! I wrote to the Department of Banking and Insurance at [email]Consumer@banking.state.ny.us[/email], and received a response back from one of their employees - [email]Mian.Ahmad@banking.state.ny.us[/email]

thanks for the info, i still am not sure what to think about this! really perhaps you should start a new thread on this to see if anyone has any insight on this.. it goes against everything i ever heard about new york state!

I didn't have loans with either of these companies but I'm going to try calling the phone # at the bottom. It seems like NY has gone after some PDLs. Perhaps they'll go after others. This is from the NYAG's website: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2009/nov/nov17a_09.html

ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION OF $5.2 MILLION SETTLEMENT IN ???RENT-A-BANK??? PAYDAY LENDING SCHEME

NEW YORK, NY (November 17, 2009) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a $5.2 million settlement will be distributed to New Yorkers previously victimized by two companies operating ???payday loan??? schemes.
The two companies, County Bank of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware (???County Bank???), and TC Services Corporation d/b/a Telecash, an out-of-state financial company that operated an illegal ???payday loan??? scheme, agreed to pay the refunds to New York consumers and an additional $300,000 in penalties and costs. In addition, the companies were prohibited from collecting on any outstanding payday loans made to New York consumers.
The Attorney General???s Office, in conjunction with the Better Business Bureau which is serving as the settlement administrator, will begin distributing the $5.2 million restitution fund to more than 14,000 New Yorkers who were victims. Identified fund members will be sent a form to fill out to claim their share of the proceeds. After the claim forms are received, claimants will be sent a check. The more than 14,000 victims reside all over the state of New York with particularly large representation in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Individuals will receive restitution ranging from $10 to more than $4,500. The amount of restitution will be based on a formula according to the amount of interest paid.
???This ???payday loan??? scheme lured financially vulnerable borrowers into high-cost short term payday loans with exorbitant interest rates, trapping many of these individuals and families in a cycle of mounting debt,??? Cuomo said. ???These unscrupulous lenders must return to New York consumers the excessive interest rates they charged, and hopefully help these consumers break the cycle of debt created by this payday loan scheme.???
???Payday loans??? are small-dollar ($100-$500) loans, which the borrower promises to repay out of his or her next paycheck, and generally carry annual interest rates that exceed 500 percent. Most consumers cannot afford to pay off the loans when they become due and are required to extend or ???roll-over??? the repayment period by paying additional interest. Payday loans are generally illegal under New York State laws that prohibit making loans at interest rates above 16%.
According to the complaint filed by the Attorney General, non-bank Pennsylvania based payday lenders Telecash, and CRA Services Inc., d/b/a ???Cashnet,??? made thousands of illegal payday loans to New York consumers under an elaborate and fraudulent ???rent-a-bank scheme??? with County Bank, a Delaware state bank. While ???Cashnet??? was part of the scheme the company is now defunct and therefore did not contribute to the settlement.
Essentially, Telecash and Cashnet, through an agreement with County Bank, disguised their payday loans as being made by County Bank. Federal banking laws permit state or nationally chartered banks to make loans throughout the United States at the interest rates permitted under the bank???s home state. Unlike New York, Delaware does not limit the amount of interest that can be charged on a loan, and thus permits high interest rate payday loans.

Individuals who believe that they might be eligible for restitution or who have questions about this restitution program should call the Attorney General???s Help Line at 1-800-771-7755.
This case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Lee under the direction of Joy Feigenbaum, Chief of the Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau.




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I have been a member of this site for a little under a year now and I can only say thanks for all of the terrific advice that I have received over the past year. With that being said I would like to call upon the NY members of this site to take a collective action against the parent corporation of the above mentioned firms; Miami Nation Enterprises of Oklahoma.
I took the advice of this forum and filed complaints with the NY Attorney General's Office of Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau. I received an early November 2009 enthusiatic letter from the NY AG's office suggesting that they would be able to help mediate a settlement of my refund request of renewal fees that were significantly larger than the principal of my loans. Early last month I received another letter from Mr. Giovanni Cox who stated that " We have presented your complaint to the company. Despite our repeated efforts, they have failed to respond. Unfortunately, we cannot assist you further. We can take formal law enforcement action only when we have evidence of a business' pattern of repeated or persistent fraud, or illegality. In the case of individual complaints, our role is limited to that of mediator. Mediation is a voluntary procedure, and we cannot force either side in a dispute to settle a complaint.
[LEFT]As we all know on this forum, the terms of the Ameriloan, US Fastcash and United Cash Loans contracts all violate NY usury laws and small loan rate caps. In order to prompt the Attorney General's office to take formal enforcement action I am calling on all of the NY members of this site who have been victims of the above companies to send correspondence directly to Mr. Giovanni Cox of the NY Attorney General's Office of Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau in Albany specifically stating the fact that we are trying to establish a clear pattern of repeated and persistent illegality.
I have done research that showed where the Attorney General of West Virginia, a state with similiar usury laws to New York, was successful in suing and eventually settling with the firm for refunds of loan overpayments and forgiveness of outstanding collection agency debts. [/LEFT]

[LEFT]Thanks to all in advance for your help with this request and hopefully we can persuade Mr. Cox to move forward with enforcement action against Miami Nation Enterprises as the West Virginia AG sucessfully did.[/LEFT]