Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Payday loan debt collection scams

Illinois has hit some troubles lately. These are mostly pay day loans debt collection scams. Current and previous payday loans no faxing borrowers have had their personal information stolen by con artist debt collectors. The phone is what the false payday loans collectors use to call and bully these individuals by threatening jail time and lawsuits. Lisa Madigan is the Illinois Attorney General that issued a consumer alert. This was done as the pay day loan debt scam is prominent. Article source – Be on the lookout for payday loans no faxing debt collection scams by Personal Money Store.

Intimidation and threats used by debt collection scammers

Bogus payday loan debt collectors have been the primary complaint coming to the Illinois attorney general’s office most recently. Recpients of pay day loan scam calls used online loan company before. Consumer Affairs reports that they had all paid the debt already by the time they got the call. They say the scammers know their names, social security numbers, employer and account with the bank numbers. Victims think that the scammers are real because of all the details the caller has. The scam artists use threats and intimidation, like lawsuits and jail, to dupe them into authorizing a direct withdrawal from their checking account. Sometimes, consumers are tricked to sign promissory notes and fax them to the bogus collectors.

Money lender lose business

Illinois pay day loan customers aren’t the only ones getting harassed by debt collection scammers. Within the nation, scams have popped up all over, says Wallet Pop. These include Ohio, Colorado, Florida, Indiana and other states. Scammers say they are from places that are a little bogus. These consist of Morgan and Associates, Federal Bureau of Investigators, DNR Recovery, DNI Recovery, Legal Accounts Association, Department of Law and Enforcement, CashNet USA, America Legal Services, Pay day and ACS. Most of the names are fake. There is a real one coming from CashNet USA. It is one of the only real ones. On its site, CashNet USA has posted a warning about the scam.

Illegal to harass with debt collection

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects consumers. Debt collectors can’t even call between 8 am and 9 pm. Threats such as lawsuits or arrest aren’t things they can do. Also, they cannot ask for more money than owed or tell a third party about a consumer’s debt. Madigan’s office has reports of numerous victims of the payday loan scam payday hundreds of dollars because of it. Madigan gave some advice for anyone contacted by scammers via an Illinois TV station, WIFR.

People don’t go to jail for failing to pay a debt in this country.

Never give out any personal information over the telephone, especially bank account numbers or credit card numbers.

When in doubt, ask the debt collector to produce documentation that qualifies the debt they seek to collect.

Contact the original creditor to confirm if the debt has been paid. If not, confirm that the debt was sold to a third party collector before making a payment.

Further reading

Consumer Affairs

consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/08/il_payday_lending.html

Wallet Pop

walletpop.com/blog/2010/08/26/warning-issued-over-bogus-payday-loan-debt-collector-calls/

WIFR

wifr.com/news/headlines/101497999.html?ref=999



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