Complaint Review: First Point Loans

I applied online for a personal, unsecured loan to pay off bills, get ahead on bills a little bit, and to help rebuild my credit. I was contacted by First Point Loans saying I was approved for $10,000 if I could send them "the first four monthly payments as collateral", totaling $960. I got an advance on my paycheck and sent them the money.

The next day I get another call from them saying that the lender "reassessed" my application and that to secure a loan of that size with my poor credit, I would need to send another $960. They assured me that my application could not be "reassessed" a second time and that if I sent the additional funds, my full $10,000 would be direct deposited into my checking account within 24 hours.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I did not send the money. I requested a refund of the $960 that I originally sent to them and was told that the full amount would be refunded, plus the $14.16 I spent to send it to them via MoneyGram, at the end of their pay cycle, Dec. 14th, 2007. I called several times during the week prior to 12/14 and was assured that my refund would be sent by overnight delivery on the 14th.

No surprise that I did not receive a FedEx package the next day, nor have I received one yet today (12/17). I tried to call them this morning and I get a recording that says (partially cut off) "...account has been temporarily placed on hold. Please contact customer service. Thank you. Goodbye."

I have learned a very hard lesson, especially this close to the holidays:
DO NOT SEND MONEY UP FRONT TO ANYONE AS "COLLATERAL" FOR A LOAN.

I have seen other reports on this site regarding the same company. Hopefully more reports will prevent this from happening to anyone else!

Vicky
Akron, Ohio
U.S.A.