Complaint Review: Parker & Phillips Financial - Philadelphia Pennsylvania

In an attempt to find a personal loan to assist in the recovery of foreclosure, bankruptcy and a divorce, I sought a personal loan from https://www.badcreditunsecuredpersonalloans.com/ they matched me up with Parker & Phillips Financial who cold called me on Friday October 22nd, 2010. Below is the timeline of events as they transpired.

Lender: Parker & Phillips Financial 1600 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19103

(877)848-0340

Samuel Harmon

Vince Lambert

Peter Jennings, CEO ( I never spoke with the CEO, however his name was brought up by Mr. Lambert, several times)

10/22/10 3:20pm Samuel Harmon with Parker & Phillips Financial out of Philadelphia, he went over the loan offer, interest rate and discussed the collateral payment that would be applied to my first 5 payments, I told him I was leary, as I could not even find a webpage on the company, he assured me they were a legitimate lender and they have international investors that would be backing my loan. I asked him to send me the loan documents and terms, I would look them over and think about the offer over the weekend and get back with him.

10/22/10 3:48pm Loan documents were received and I took them home with me for the weekend. (see attachment # 1) 10/23/10 I did some research, checked with the Better Business Bureau and attempted to find any negative reports on Parker & Phillips on the internet, and since anyone can post on the internet, I figured that no negative postings on a forum or any other place for that matter was a good thing.

10/25/10 10:47am I signed the agreement and faxed all my required documents back to Parker & Phillips Financial, I called Samuel Harmon at (877)848-0340 ext 242 to get the instructions for sending the collateral payment which was to sent via Western Union (International Money in Minutes) to Sandra Daniels in North York, Canada.

10/25/10 am I sent a total of $ 780.00 at the Safeway on 19th Avenue & Union Hills in Phoenix (as the actual amount was $ 781.90 but I was told to round down to $ 780.00) I was also advised that there was a $ 66.00 fee for sending the money this way, and that amount would be reimbursed to me upon the transfer of the funds. Total funds sent = $ 846.00 

Please note the gal who typed my Western Union into the computer misspelled my name - I called Samuel Harmon to give him the tracking # which he confirmed was indeed tracked and confirmed, at this time, Samuel told me he would be submitting my file to accounting to release the funds, and that I should see the $5,000.00 loan + the $ 66.00 western union fee in my account the next day by 5:00pm

10/26/10 10:05am I received a call from a Mr. Vince Lambert, he identified himself as a Customer Service Manager, and advised me that according to my loan document that the international lender had attempted to secure an insurance policy for my loan, and needed to secure additional collateral payments to total a 5 more months of payments. He of course put the spin on the situation that my first payment would not be due until September 2011. At this time, I inquired if the Western Union instructions were the same, he stated they were and to call him with the tracking number once I was done making the payment.

10/26/10 10:53am I made the Western Union payment at the same Safeway Western Union (19th Avenue & Union Hills) This time I had the gal correct the spelling of my name. The amount transferred was $ 780.00+$66.00 western union fees = $ 846.00

10/26/10 11:28am I called Vince Lambert to give him the tracking # which he confirmed was indeed tracked and confirmed, at this time, Mr. Lambert told me he would be submitting my file to accounting to release the funds, and that I should see the $5,000.00 loan + the $ 132.00 western union fee in my account the next day by 5:00pm.

10/27/10 11:48am Vince Lambert called my office to advise me that the lender defaulted on my loan and that we could do one of two things. At this time, he also told me that their legal department was working on my behalf to file a law suit against the Canadian lender and that I would receive anywhere from my payments of $ 1692.00 to $2,500.00 in damages and that they would cover any fees or penalties I would endure due to the default.

Option 1: Cancel the loan and I would receive all my monies in a refund in my bank account on 10/23/10 (which according to the agreement was their next cycle

Option 2: They had a lender that they worked with all the time in Spain that they already discussed my file with, and they were willing to assume my loan, however the loan amount would be $10,000.00 vs. $5,000.00 and that my money that was send to Sandra Daniels would then be forwarded on to the Spain investor, and he would only need 20 months collateral. At this time, I told Mr. Lambert, there was no way I could come up with another $ 1,560.00 for the collateral, so he made me a deal that he would credit my account $500.00 to help me out, since the other lender defaulted. I was rather desperate at this point and I agreed to send the $1,060.00. I had to take out a payday loan in order to assure that I had the funds, not to mention taking cash advances off my credit cards, which I would of course pay back once I got the loan.

10/27/10 5:01pm I made the wire transfer to the Spain investor Stahil Nikolov in Madrid Spain according to the instructions assigned by Mr. Lambert. The total of the payment was $ 1,060.00 + $ 83.00 = $ 1,143.00. (See attached paperwork.) It was too late to contact Parker & Phillips with the tracking number, but I was assured if I made the payment by 7am on the 28th, they could do a 12 hour deposit into my account. 

10/28/10 6:19am I called Mr. Lambert to give him the tracking # for the additional collateral payment. He assured me that the he would work with his accounting department to get the funds submitted via the 12 hour payment option to help me out and that I could expect his call this afternoon between 2-4pm my time to confirm the transfer was accepted by my bank. 10/28/10 3:43pm I began to get nervous, not having heard anything, so I called Vince Lambert to check on my loan status, he apologized, stating it was a very busy day, and that he tried to get the 12 hour process completed, but alas they were unable to, but that I would have the funds tomorrow by noon, he would call me in the morning to confirm this.

10/29/10 6:20am An unknown number rang my cell phone, I answered, it was Mr. Lambert, advising me that the Spanish government placed a withholding tax on the loan amount and now they needed 30% of the loan to release the funds, he proceeded to tell me that he felt personally responsible so that he and his wife would put up $ 1,500.00 of the amount to help me out. He used Las Vegas as an example that when you win any amount over $10,000.00 that they tax you 30% of the loan off the top. At this point,

I opted out of all loans (the only form I signed, was the loan where the lender defaulted.) He specified that he would continue to see what he would do, but would schedule my refund for November 23rd, 2010 back directly into my bank account. Which somehow I doubt I will ever see. 10/29/10 10:40am I contacted Western Union as they have a fraud page on their webpage, that says if you feel you have been a victim of fraud, contact us So I spoke to a very nice lady at Western Union who created two reports, one encompasses the Canadian transfers to Sandra Daniels (Report #9462850468) and one for the Madrid, Spain transfer to Stahil Nikolov (report #2369025720.)

I am definitely embarrassed that I allowed myself to be pulled in by Parker & Phillips Financial, and amazingly did not find any information that their loan program was a scam until this morning when I was on what seems like a legitimate site, where they have scam companies listed.

The only thing I can say at this point is that Parker & Phillips Financial definitely goes after people who are having a rough time financially and preys on them, reminding that each time they need more money to secure a loan, that it is your bad credit that has put you in the position.

The end tactic is to make people ashamed of their situations so they will not report it to anyone.