My wife and I contacted Hillcrest Financial in regards to obtaining a loan for $30,000. We were told to contact Callahan Investments and that our loan contact was Steven Moore. Mr. Moore assured us that we were approved for our loan for $30,000. We were told that a private investor was putting up the money for the loan and that we needed to send a deposit of $1,016.00 to cover insurance that guaranteed repayment of our loan if I became disabled or if I passed away. We faxed a copy of a voided check so that the money could be directly deposited into our checking account. During each step, Mr. Steven Moore would promtly call us to guide us through each step of this process. We were instructed to send the money via Western Union to a courier in Toronto, Canada. We were told to fax Mr. Moore with a copy of the Western Union receipt and call him when we had sent the money. We did as instructed and were told that the $30,000 loan money would be in our account within 48 hours. After 3 days, I called Mr. Moore and he told me that because my credit was bad, that the investor's insurance company wanted an addtional $638.00 to guarantee the release of the loan moaney to us. When I questioned the need for addtitonal money to be sent, especially when we were already approved by the investor, Mr. Steven Moore stated that this had never happened before and that there was nothing he could do, but that we could get a full refund of the $1,016.00, plus the $88.00 it cost to send the money. I then requested the refund and I was told by Mr. Steven Moore that it would be sent back to us by FedX or Overnight Express Mail. That was 3 weeks ago and we have not seen a penny back. Numerous attempts to contact Mr. Moore have been met by his answering machine, were I would ALWAYS leave a message requesting the refund of our money, which he had guaranteed us. On 3 occassions, I did get Mr. Steven Moore on the phone and each time he hung up on me without any explanation. When I would immediately call back, I'd get the answering machine. WE have been calling over and over again without any reply. We are devasted as this was money we needed to pay off bills, and now, not only don't we have the loan money, BUT, the $1,016 we sent as a deposit is also gone, without being refunded, which has also put us in a big hole. We are trying to seek any kind of legal/media help to, not only try and recover our $1,016 deposit, BUT to bring this company's corrupt scam to the attention of as many people as possible, so others won't get ripped-off like we did.
LENNY
FEASTERVILLE, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.