Mitchfield&Gray Financial thelendingplaza.com This is an internet loan scam site that takes your money! Internet, Internet
I was led to believe that this company approved me for a loan amount of 7500.00. My credit not being the best I opted to search lenders online for some bill consolidation and an engagement ring. I searched the web and found thelendingplaza.com. I filled out the application and sent it off hoping for a loan. I was contacted back by the site stating that they would push my app threw their network of loan providers.
I was contacted by the above company Mitchfield&Gray Financial. I was contacted back by Annemarie Teasdale to complete the approval process. I sent the required documents to them via fax. Pay stubs, Identification, account info for them to wire the money. I was told my loan was a 5 year loan, and my monthly payment was to be $160.00 a month. Due to my credit issues in the past i was required to put down $824.70 to retain the loan. This seemed ok to me at the time because I know that I am credit challenged and that people in my position often have to put deposits down to get financing. The $824.70 was to be made
via Western Union money in minutes transfer to their messenger Ashani Buchanan (a representative of the above company).
Once the payment was made I called Annemarie back to give her the MTCN number so that she could release the funds to my bank. They stated that they would refund my western union fee's once the loan was processed and wired to my account. In total the transaction cost $900.70 for the deposit and western union fee's. I was told that the funds would be deposited in
2-5 hours and that I would receive my loan payment packet in the mail and that my first payment was to be made in February 2012. The funds where never delivered. I was again contacted by Annemarie stating that they messed up and didnt figure in the closing fee's which totaled another $624.00. Like an Idiot I wired more money to them along with $68.00 more in western union fee's to the same Ashani Buchanan. It has now been another week with nothing..I have tried contacting Mitchfield&Gray numerous time with no luck. I find it odd now that the voice of Annemarie is on every single customer servicer eps voice mail message/greeting. I have been calling them 20-30 times a day and punching in different extensions to see if i could get someone live. I have gotten the above names listed on my report. They have all been extremely rude and hang up on me after cursing me out for bothering them. They have my number now and wont answer my calls.. I have tried calling from other numbers and that works, but once they figure out that its me they hang right back up.
I did some further research on the 3 listed address for this business posted below.
770 Court Street Norwalk CT 06854. This address is the Norwalk helipad and airport.
330 Fith Ave New York, NY 10001. This address is a Burger King.
555 Washington Ave Miami, FL 33139 Appears to be a shopping mall.
Losing this money has put me now in a real bind especially this being the holiday season. I still had some last minute shopping to do and bills to pay which I will no longer be able to pay. Not receiving the loan on top of is disappointment because now I am at square one again looking for a loan, this time lacking trust in any online loan service.
Its a shame that people that do stuff like this and the effected get lost in a pool of online fraud's. This has defiantly opened my eyes tobeware of online financial services. I just feel bad now that my children and my wife to be will be effected by this.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Mike Bundy
kenosha,Wisconsin,
United States of America
Thanks for your post!
#3Author of original report
Thu, December 22, 2011
Yes you are correct. As I look back at how it all went down, I feel like an idiot X10. I should have listened to the little voice in my head telling me "what the heck are you thinking?" I understand that the money is gone, my biggest hope is that people will see this and do their homework when they do research on getting an online loan. If I can keep one person from using that site or keep them from making the same mistakes I did then I feel accomplished.. Again thanks for your post and your insight!
Flynrider
Phoenix,Arizona,
USA
You fell for a common scam.
#3Consumer Comment
Wed, December 21, 2011
This is called the Advance Fee Loan Scam and is one of the more common ones on the Internet today. The FTC has a webpage devoted to this scam :
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/telemarketing/tel16.shtm
" This seemed ok to me at the time because I know that I am credit challenged and that people in my position often have to put deposits down to get financing. "
There's where you made your mistake. A legitimate lender can not legally charge you a "deposit" as a condition for an unsecured loan. Sometimes the scammers also call it "insurance" or "processing fees", which would also be illegal for an unsecured personal loan.
"now I am at square one again looking for a loan, this time lacking trust in any online loan service. "
You absolutely should lack trust in online loan services. You gave this company all of your personal info without knowing who they were. A very dangerous thing to do on the Internet. Many of the scams and identity thefts reported on this site begin with someone giving up their personal details to some unknown Internet entity pretending to offer loans.
One more thing for future reference, Internet scammers use untraceable money transfers like Western Union and Moneygram almost exclusively. It's the only way they can get your cash without leaving a paper trail. Legitimate businesses do not require that kind of payment. That is one thing that 90% of scams have in common. No matter how they con their victims, they always need an untraceable way to get their cash. That's why the W.U. website and offices have warnings all over, cautioning you not to send money to people you don't know personally.
Bottom line is, you sent untraceable cash to unknown persons. You will not likely see it again. On the bright side, your post on this site might prevent someone else from getting scammed. Once the word gets out, the scammers will have to change all the names and numbers they're using now and start all over with a new fake identity, but for the time being, this fake identity will show up when someone Googles the name.