My wife was contacted by this company via e-mail which stated that she had been pre-qualified for a loan of up to $50K USD. We were initially skeptical of the offer but we called anyway. Since we were short on money at the time and trying to complete some home repairs we decided to give it a try.
We listened to the pitch and were told that we would have to front 1/2 of an insurance premium which would insure the funds against loss of life or ability to work. The total premium for a $25K loan was set at $1750.00 to be paid in advance.
Now, this is where I should've seen something coming... We were told that the monies would have to be submitted by either Western Union or MoneyGram. If that wasn't enough, when I agreed to wire the money that way I was given a person's name in Ontario, Canada as the recipient. We were told that the transfer price would ultimately cost less if it appeared that we knew the recipient and that they were not a "Company Entity".
My next mistake was actually sending the money via Western Union. This was done after 5:00 PM so the person at this company told me that the money transfer into my account wouldn't be able to post until the next day.
Here it is, the next day. More than half way through the day, my wife receives a phone call stating that the person we spoke with neglected to inform us that we had to pay an additional 10% tax on the money since it's coming from a lender in Canada. She did, however, agree to cover half of that so I would only have to put up an additional $1250.00 to get my $25K released to me.
I expressed to her, in no uncertain terms, that her asking for additional monies to process this loan was unacceptable. The "Binding Contract" that my wife signed clearly stated that the agreement could not be altered without express, signed consent of all parties involved.
I then told her that I would not agree to pay any additional monies and that I would accept my immediate refund.
She stated that she would process the paperwork for the refund, but since they don't handle money directly, the refund would have to come from the insurance company directly and that would take 4 to 6 weeks. When I told her that the time frame was completely unacceptable. I was told that this loan could be done in a few short hours and that I would expect the same for a refund. I told her that I didn't care if she got the money from the original loan officer's pocket or out of her own but if I didn't receive a refund by the close of the business day I would by filing suit first thing Monday morning.
Now I am speaking with them again and they are "seeing what they can do" on their end. But I think I'm really being ripped off here.
I will follow up once I have final word back from them.
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