I was contacted by rachel mcknight on both my cell and work phone to let me know I have qualified for a loan of $5000. Terms were $150/month for 3 years at 8%. Due to my bad credit I could either get a consigner with a credit score of over 720, or pay 450 to insure 4 months payment ahead on the loan as "collateral". I REALLY needed this loan, bad. So i sent the 450 and the next day i got another call asking for extra 450 for an additional 3 month me being stupid i sent that with no question asked. Never received my money. Well the next day comes - no deposit and she's not taking my calls. She finally does get back to me and tells me the lender has decided to do an independent assessment on my loan info. And because my credit score has changed, I will have to send another 3 months of payments for collateral. At this point I have sent her all my money. I need this loan so bad to just pay my rent now. So I tell her I don't have another $450. She says she's gonna check with her accounting dept and see if they can handle the payment for me and just take it out of my loan. She calls me back and says that they can pay $150 of the next payment but I still need $300.
So like an idiot I borrow it. Cuz I'm desperate at this point. I send that to her. She confirms she recd it then stops taking my calls. The next day comes and I get a call from the "manager" who "now has my file" and is going to release the funds - David Carr. But, because my credit is so bad the insurance company now wants $1k to insure the loan anyway. I flipped out. Then he says "well we can pay 60% of that but u will need to send another $400 then we can release the funds". I lost it. I told him I want my money back. Now. He says he can process a refund but it will take 30 days. 30. I asked him how I would receive my funds and he said "that depends on you". I asked again. He said "I'm going to send this to my refund department and get back to you". Then he calls me back 20 mins later and asks if he can work over the weekend for me to try and find another lender that doesn't require a payment. I said no. Send me my money. He said I really don't want to do that - I would like to get this done for you. I told him to process my refund .I haven't heard from them nor seen any money. I just get voice mails when I call.
FloridaNative
Palm Beach Gardens,#2Consumer Comment
Mon, March 20, 2017
This is called the Advance Fee Scam. You can read all about it at FTC.gov under scams. There never was a loan - they just told you that to get you to send them money. Your money is gone. The scammers are skilled at telling you what you want to hear and taking all the money you send them. There isn't any refund either. They just tell you they are going to send you one to get you off their back. Read all about it. This scam has been around for many years. The tip that it is a scam is that they ask for money up front - for any reason. In a real loan, there are no upfront fees unless it is a commerical real estate financing deal.