I was contacted the week after Thanksgiving by a Michael Taylor of this company. I was offered a $15,000 loan for 6% interest. I had to pay $1736 upfront and payments were $289 a month. I toyed around with the idea for a bit and even checked on the internet before I did anything to see if it was a scam. I didn't find anything in my searches that lead me awry. I was told that the payment was collatteral for the loan and that I wouldn't have to pay anything more until June 08. I thought this would be great because that would give me extra money each month to pay down other things and get on my feet.
I called Mr. Taylor on about the 28th on November and told him that I wasn't going to have the money until after the deadline for the loan (30th). He stated that the funds were already in an non interest bearing account and that their "investors" want that money to be earning interest asap. He extended me until the 1st.
I asked him to give me the information at that time (the first) regarding how I make the payment and such. He said that he couldn't do that right now due to if I were to send it to that accounts receivable rep and if they had happened to call in sick that day, he wouldn't be able to release the money.
So I waited till the 1st when I had the money, I called Mr. Taylor and he told me that the money had to be moneygrammed to an individual in Canada. I was skeptical and asked him a lot of questions. He said that investors in Canada were loaning a lot of money to US due to the weak dollar in US and that when the Dollar goes up they will be making a better return on their investment. So I sent it to a Karen Bryden, Victoria British Columbia. I told Mr. Taylor that I was scared sending the money that way. He stated that I could send the money by Certified check, but it would take 15 days to fund the loan (I didn't have 15 days I had borrowed the money). Told him I was still nervous about it and he simply said... You will be calling to thank me tomorrow.
Tomorrow came and at about 11am I received a call from David Green in Customer Service stating that they would need another $1730 to fund the loan due to a review of my file. Told him immediately that I wanted a refund. He told me that a refund would be posted on the 19th to my account. Told him I couldn't wait that long and he said it was the billing cycle.
I got nervous and figured at that point I was scammed and wasn't going to see that money again. Sometime around the 7th or 8th I called David Green back at ext 0. He said that money would be there on the date that he said. Asked him to look up my account and remind me when (trying to catch something) He said "did you fall on your head?" "Stop bothering me" and hung up on me.
19th came and went no refund. Tried to call and all I got was "goodbye" I had a nervous breakdown. Just lost it. Still dealing with the effects of it... I think having to tell my dad what happened was the worst feeling ever! My husband thinks that I am crazy for falling for it, but I thought that I was being proactive and consolidating all of our debts. Needless to say, Christmas was awful this year...