Complaint Review: Jefferson Financial Corporation

I was contacted by a "Jessica Winters" of Jefferson Financial Corporation after I had done a fairly comprehensive and desperate search on the Internet for an unsecured, personal loan for $3,100. I was told that the company's minimum requirement for a loan is $5,000.

I was told that due to my credit history I would need to do one of two things: get a co-signer with unrealistic qualifications (over $70K/year in salary, perfect credit score, etc.)or provide a security deposit which would be returned to me at 50% after six months of on-time payments.

I sent in a total of $1910.00 for a security deposit for the first lender they claimed to find and for the second lender they said they found. All moneys were wired through MoneyGram. My $5000 loan was expected to be in my account on Nov 5 (this scam began with the initial call on Oct 19) and nothing has appeared to date and after the last payment was secured, my numbers were blocked from going through to them (my home phone, work phone and cell phone could not get through even after having my phone on 5 min.redial increments).

Individuals I spoke with were Jessica Winters (jwinters@jfcfinancing.com;888-716-7499 ext 247)and Peter/Paul McDougall (cs@jfcfinancing.com;888-647-6454). Victims should take precautions to protect themselves from identity theft, as these people have voided checks in their possession, as well as our social security numbers.

MoneyGrams were sent to Tammy Smith (Layton, Utah) and Deborah McDaniels (Warsaw, NC). The first fraudulent lender was the East Carribbean Bank of Commerce (www.ecboc.com).

According to the Utah police dept, JFC has been traced to Canada. Perhaps the Feds can find trace their Internet activity and get our money back!

Adrienne
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.