"Highly Confidential" Settlement Offer

I'll let others more knowledgeable than myself give you advice; but I have to wonder, why are they so insistent you keep the terms confidential?

i wouldn't sign anything.you didn't have to sign anything to get the loan.if you haven't filed AG complaints do so.i would reject the offer and push for a refund.your AG can help with this.also save that so you can forward it to your AG as part of your complaint.again don't sign anything file AG complaints if you haven't already you deserve a refund no questions asked.

that's pretty funny, cause now we all know on this website about the terms of this offer. lol, not so confidential anymore. i would not even give them another dime, since you way overpaid. you don't owe anymore to them. they're trying to call your bluff to see if you did file with those agencies or not. just ignore them.

Quote:

Oh - and if you haven't noticed, certain "Lax Law State"'s Attorney General is our VP's son!

just let them know how you are still insisting that they are illegal,and as such you have overpaid by 415.00.you are seeking through your AG that the overpayment be refunded.

Just a FYI I know which co. you are referring to because I got the exact same letter and they don't budge the BBB got nowhere with them still haven't heard from my AG or FTC...am getting daily calls from a collector but am not even bothering answering or dealing with them. Hang in there hopefully they go away soon for both of our sakes.

BBB is a joke.. why do people even bother!! I am a business owner, and they are in business to protect the business owner..

Know your rights, call them on it , and just sue them. Its not the hard.. (thats what is wrong with this country)

go to residentagentinfo.com to in order to know who to direct the summons to.

Before that, send a certified letter to the facts, and see what response you get. If no response, just sue.

Do not waste time with the BBB.. They are JOKE!

States Attorney is a little bit better, but for the most part, they respond to complaints in numbers.

survivor, we encourage people to complain to the BBB to have a paper trail and to warn others before they take out a loan to stay away from this company. reporting also gives the public their addresses and contact information.. for some companies the only place i found this information was the BBB. i will always encourage people to complain everywhere. i know my attorney general's office is kind of useless but i also encourage people to report there, too so the complaints add up.
to the op - i have gotten a similiar letter from another company. since you overpaid i would not sign anything.

I just got a letter from the same PDL today. They owe me a refund of $960 so I am sure they would love for me to settle. I too did not follow through with the letter to the AG office so I am not 100% sure how I am going to proceed. On one hand I would like this to be over and not have to hassle with dragging out the proccess by getting the AG office involved. However, they OWE ME MONEY. Has anyone else been successful in getting their AG office involved and getting a refund??

some have.i would get the AG involved.960?it sounds worth it to me.tell them you are filing AG complaints against them.then do it.these places try to do the absolute least when it comes to doing right by people.your AG will help you with this.

I received the exact letter from the "illegal company" above. I rejected their offer and asked for a refund. They owed me about $700 and ended up refunding $100. I had to be persistent. I emailed them the same letter every day with a "still haven't received a response." They blew me off for a few weeks, but eventually offered the $100, which I took. I probably could've counter-offered, but didn't because I just wanted it over with.

Here's the wording I sent rejecting their offer.

"[FONT=Helv][SIZE=2]Thank you for your correspondence and prompt attention to this matter. Unfortunately, the terms of your offer are not acceptable to me. Regardless of what you say, I know that (my state's) law prevails in this matter and according to (my state's) law, you are an illegal lender. I will be more than happy to sign your agreement once I've received a refund of the amount I overpaid on this loan. Once I've received the $_____ overpayment, I will sign your current agreement, or you may draft a new one that includes the stipulations of my refund. The money can be deposited to my account which you have on file."
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Serioiusly, you gave an illegal PDL permission to access your account. No agreement is going to matter, they will go in and bleed you dry.
Why on earth would you give them permission to go into your account?
Why isn't this account closed to assure your money is safe
I hope you did not already send this

I have to agree with Guest5678. As long as your account is still open, they can just as easily go in and clean it out, much less give you a refund that they don't feel they owe you in the first place.

it is true, if they have a way to go in, they will go in and take your money.
i have heard of some getting refunded but it was always after their account was closed.

I have decided to pursue a refund in my case. My account is closed so I will be asking for a money order or certified check I guess.

Just go to your local small claims court and sue them. Subtract the amount you paid from the amount you would have paid if the money was loaned at the max. legal interest and demand this amount back. If you want to be a dick, add in $1,000 for them requiring you to pay via pre-authorized electronic transfers.

If by some miracle you DO get a refund, be careful how you cash a check/money order; it was brought up on another post that if you depost a check/money order that somehow they could gain info on your new bank account. Don't know if that's true, but it's something I'd never thought of, before!

I declined their first offer, reiterated my point that they still owe me and are still illegal and now they've offered me the $100. I'm not going to wuss out now, it's a matter of principle. They're going to have to wire it to me - my account is already closed anyway so I don't know what would happen if they tried to put some money in it - my luck it would be floating around the banking black hole for years.

I'll respond again, telling them how much they owe me, but if they'd really really like me to sign their agreement, I'll sign it - but only after I receive no less than $50 less than what they owe me and I'll tell the BBB and AG that we've resolved our issue amicably.

I'm certainly not going to accept less than a quarter of what they owe me. And they just made this kinda fun. ;-)

*I've never EVER been what anyone would describe as "assertive" - so I'm gaining some confidence here and owe this forum quite a bit of THANKS!!!!!

Thanks for the update! BTW, did you file complaints the BBB or your AG office? I have yet to do that but am thinking I should before rejecting the offer.

Yes, I did. The BBB was pretty much worthless (as described) as they marked my case "resolved" just because the company responded back rather than just ignored them. I have yet to hear anything from the AG, but I'm pretty sure they receive complaints like these rather often and if they're run anything like the state's child support/DCF then they've probably got a huge backlog ;-p

Oh, and I when I did file the complaint with the BBB, I noticed that their "Rating" was an F the BBB said it's processed 57 complaints about them in the last 36 months - 54 complaints were closed in the last 12 months.

Here's the email I sent turning down their $100 offer:


As I'm sure you're aware, Fxxxxxa laws regarding Money Transmitters are very specific:

Any person or company who does NOT have a Fxxxxxa License under either Title XXXIII (REGULATION OF TRADE, COMMERCE), Chapter 560 (MONEY SERVICES), or under Title XXXIII (REGULATION OF TRADE, COMMERCE, INVESTMENTS, AND SOLICITATIONS), Chapter 516 (CONSUMER FINANCE) is operating ILLEGALLY in the State of Fxxxxxa.

Since all documents I may have electronically signed, originated from my side with an IP address from within the State of Fxxxxa and I have never been to Delaware to sign any loan documents physically, I am still a Fxxxxa resident protected by the law of Fxxxxa and, no matter which State the documents are stating as their State of “legal operations”, they are NOT enforceable in this matter. This same statement is true when it comes to your auto debits: all of them were drawn from my checking account in Fxxxxxa.

I am still asserting the fact that I have overpaid your company by $4x5.00 and demand you return that money to me, in the form of a money order, sent by Certified mail to my home address which you have on file.

If I don't receive this money order for overpayment and a written statement from your company that my account is Paid In Full by November 2x, 2009, all further conversations regarding this issue will be made through the Fxxxxxa Attorney General's office.

Thank you for your response in this important matter.

I received an email from their "General Counsel" in response to my email turning down their crappy $100. (I did a little research on their GC, and found out he is an estates/bankruptcy atty in NJ who has VERY limited litigation experience - I am fortunate enough through my employer that I have access to certain legal databases so I can see some of this rather interesting stuff.) Here's what the email says, for the most part:

As General Counsel for I$&#%@ Ad^$%e, this matter has been escalated to my attention. I have thoroughly reviewed the email correspondence between our company and yourself as well as your loan history. Please note the following:
1. You have an outstanding balance with us of $260.
2. Your allegation that we are governed by the laws of Fxxxa because we extended financing to you is unfounded. We incur significant legal fees on an on-going basis to ensure we are in compliance with all applicable laws and are confident that we are in compliance with applicable laws, namely Delaware, the state where we are properly licensed. We also comply with all applicable Federal laws, such as the Truth
in Lending Laws requiring the so-called “TILA” disclosures.
3. We offered to waive your outstanding balance and refund you $100 in an effort to resolve your complaint without escalation, even though we are not obligated to do so and there is no legal basis for your claim.
4. Your statement “…I am willing to sign your Mutual Release Agreement but only if your company can come up with a much better offer... Otherwise, I will continue my pursuit of justice in this matter with the Fxxxa Attorney General's office and the Federal Trade Commission” amounts to extortion. This can lead to both criminal and civil prosecution.
After giving this matter careful consideration, and against my better judgment to withdraw our original offer to you (especially in light of your extortion attempt), we will still extend our original settlement offer plus $50 ($150 total)to you until 5 pm ET on Monday, November 30, 2009.

Please notify us ASAP of your acceptance of this offer so we can send you the updated documentation. If we have not heard from you by the deadline, we will assume you have rejected this offer and we will continue enforcing our rights in accordance with our signed agreement with you.

And, being that I'm enjoying the research here because it's expanding on the skills needed for my job, I dug around a bit and came up with this response:

I appreciate your attention to this matter. I am happy that you have personally reviewed the email correspondence between Integrity Advance and myself.
In response to your notes:
1. "You have an outstanding balance with us of $260." (this is the one where I'm having a bit of trouble with the wording and could use some help...)
2. If sir, my "allegation ... is unfounded" then as a civilian and not a licensed attorney, I'd certainly appreciate your interpretation of this case:
http://www.judicialview.com/Court-Cases/Finance-Banking/Kansas-Regulation-of-Internet-Payday-Lenders-Challenged/Lender-Asserts-Violation-of-Dormant-Commerce-Clause/27/5567

[FONT="][/FONT]
[URL="http://www.judicialview.com/Court-Cases/Finance-Banking/Kansas-Regulation-of-Internet-Payday-Lenders-Challenged/Lender-Asserts-Violation-of-Dormant-Commerce-Clause/27/5567"] [FONT="][/FONT][/URL]
Although Quik Payday appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court earlier this year, their petition was marked "Certiorari Denied", which I understand to mean that the Court has declined to hear the case and lets the prior ruling stand.


There is also another case that you might want to look into, filed last week by the West Virginia Attorney General's office, asserting the same claims I made above:

http://www.wvago.gov/press.cfm?ID=496&fx=more

I'm sure what your company is paying in legal fees don't even compare to those of Quik Payday, who hired a senior trial lawyer from one of the top 100 firms in the country.



3. We offered to waive your outstanding balance and refund you $100 in an effort to resolve your complaint without escalation, even though we are not obligated to do so and there is no legal basis for your claim.
(This ties in with my response for #2 so I'm not sure here either...)

4. Your statement "...I am willing to sign your Mutual Release Agreement but only if your company can come up with a much better offer...Otherwise, I will continue my pursuit of justice in this matter with the Florida Attorney General's office and the Federal Trade Commission" amounts to extortion. This can lead to both criminal and civil prosecution.
(My "pursuit of justice" in obtaining my refund of amounts that they illegally withdrew from my bank account is not what I would consider extortion, of which the legal definition reads: obtaining money or property by threat to a victim's property or loved ones, intimidation, or false claim of a right (such as pretending to be an IRS agent). It is a felony in all states, except that a direct threat to harm the victim is usually treated as the crime of robbery. I don't think what I wrote was extortion - especially considering the ruling in the Kansas case where those 962 people got their money back plus more)
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Any comment/advice/opinion is appreciated!

i like it.i would also include his credentials,and since he has no background in this type of law.maybe the NJ bar association would like to look into his attempt to extort.

I pushed back on them, included TONS of recent case law and they decided to take my offer of about $115 less than what I overpaid just to get this overwith. I'm making a few amendments to their cute little password-secured PDF (neener-neener-neeeeeeenerrrrrr, I figured out how to convert their little contract to a word doc with my ultra-cool freeware I found) and since I am stronger now with my knowledge and am surprised/amused/excited and delighted with the fact that I just won a semi-friendly legal debate with an ATTORNEY. Woo-hoooo!

I'll be adding a few amendments to their contract before I sign it because I'm not signing it till I have the cash in my hand (and he!! no, I'm not letting them direct deposit it into my new bank account...).