Monday, August 30, 2010

Payday loan debt collection scams happening

A payday loans debt collection scam has been victimizing consumers in Illinois. Con artists posing as debt collectors have somehow obtained the phone numbers and personal data of current and previous payday loans no faxing borrowers. Lawsuits and jail time are the typical threats con artists for payday loans collectors use. They call on the phone to get a hold of the consumers. Lisa Madigan is the Illinois Attorney General that issued a consumer alert. This was done because the payday loan debt scam is prominent. Post resource – Be on the lookout for payday loans debt collection scams by Personal Money Store.

Intimidation and threats used by debt collection scammers

In recent weeks, the Illinois attorney general’s office has fielded a marked increase in consumer complaints about phone calls from bogus payday loan debt collectors. Consumer Affairs reports that individuals who have gotten payday loans no fax scam calls say they’ve taken out payday loans, most often from online payday loan lenders, but have paid the debt on time. The info known by the caller contains social security numbers, employer, account with your bank numbers and names. Victims think the scammers are real because of all the information the caller has. To get money out of the victims’ bank accounts, the scammers just have to use threats and intimidation, like lawsuits or jail. Lawsuits or jail are just two of the threats and intimidation, that are used by the scammers. They use this to get withdrawals made from victims’ bank accounts. Sometimes, consumers are tricked to sign promissory notes and fax them to the bogus collectors.

This stops payday lenders from getting business

Illinois payday loans no faxing customers aren’t the only ones getting harassed by debt collection scammers. Wallet Pop reports the payday loans no faxing scam calls have surfaced in Ohio, Colorado, Florida, Indiana and other states around the nation. Madigan said the scammers say they’re from a variety of bogus companies, like Morgan and Associates, Federal Bureau of Investigators, DNR Recovery, DNI Recovery, Legal Accounts Association, Department of Law and Enforcement, CashNet USA, America Legal Services, Cash till payday and ACS. The names are all fake, well, for probably the most part. However, CashNet USA is real. On its website, CashNet USA has posted a warning about the scam.

Not legal to do debt collection harassment

Under the FTC’s Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, it is illegal for debt collectors to call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.. 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. The payday loan scam made it so victims had to pay hundreds of dollars. These reports came in to the Madigan office in many reports. Illinois TV station WIFR reports that Madigan offered some advice for people if they’re contacted by the scammers.

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.

Discover more information on this subject

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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