offshore lender/General Agreement treaty with US
Date: Fri, 08/31/2012 - 13:32
I live in Oregon and wrote a letter to AdvanceMeToday telliing them they are unlicensed in Oregon and violating my state's payday lending staute. Here is their response:
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Thank you for contacting us.
Please be aware that this is a St. Vincent company, St Vincent and the United States are both parties to the General Agreement on Trade in Services, a treaty which specifically permits companies in one country to make consumer loans to citizens of the other.
Under the treaty, we are only obligated to follow the federal laws of the United States. We are not required to obtain state licenses and individual state laws do not apply since the federal laws adopting this treaty supersede any state's laws on the subject.
If there is anything else we may do for you do not hesitate to contact us again.
Regards,
Michael Fernandez
Advancemetoday.com
Customer Support Specialist
Toll Free 888-408-4394
Fax 888-660-2984
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Is Advance Me Today correct? I have already paid them $600 in charges, $500 principal untouched).
I also have loans with Bottom Dollar ($400, paid $240 in fees, principal untouched), OneClickCash ($300, paid one $90 fee so far, principal untouched), MobilLoans ($500, no payments yet) and Insight Capital ($250, no payments yet).
All are out of state and I can't find licenses in Oregon. MobilLoans is tribal, so is Bottom Dollar. Are they exempt from Oregon law? Is Advance Me Today exempt?
Any help you can provide is very much appreciated.
They're wrong. I want you to consider this yourself though inste
They're wrong. I want you to consider this yourself though instead of just trusting me - how can someone be exempt from the law? How could they legally pursue you for a debt that does not follow the law of your state? Answer those questions and you'll see that they are lying sacks of crap. Keep pressing them for that refund.
And the tribal lenders and bak fees?
Thanks for the quick response and sorry for the double post.
I'm just going to tell AdvanceMeToday they have already collected $600 in fees on a $500 loan and we're done, and they keep the change IF they send me confirmation that the loan is paid in full.
What about tribal lenders who claim an exemption from Oregon law as sovereign entities?
Are all of my loans illegal just by virtue of their usury interest rate and too-short loan period under Oregon law?
I want to just offer all of them the principal, the actual amount they sent me, and nothing else. Is that OK?
And do I owe them their bank fee if they were charged after I closed my account and before they found out?
I REALLY appreciate your help and I'm going to tell everyone I know about your site!
I don't know, do you think you owe them the bank fee? That's up
I don't know, do you think you owe them the bank fee? That's up to you. I personally wouldn't pay them a bank fee as part of my settlement offer.
As for the legality of Indian loans, no - they are illegal.