A couple weeks ago I was looking into getting a loan to pay off car repairs and new furniture. I have bad credit, but I found a company, Quality Plus Lending, that approved loans for people with bad credit. I applied online, and several days later I received a phone call from Karen Winters, who claimed to be a representative of the company. She told me I had been approved for the loan amount I'd requested, $5,000; however, the lender required a 6 month collateral payment of $960. Karen Winters sent me an email with the contract and details of the loan attached, and told me I had about a week to make a decision. This was August 28. I transferred the money form my savings, and called her back September 2nd to let her know I accepted. I then faxed my signature on the contract over to their main number, and was then directed to go to a MoneyGram location to send the collateral payment to the lender. The receiver's name was Mark Otto in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The $960 was picked up in about in an hour, and I was told that the loan money would be available to me in 24 hours. (I had given my banking information to get a direct deposit.)
The next day (September 3) I received a phone call from a customer service representative, Anthony Truman (Sherman?) saying that the lender had given my account a final assessment and wanted another 6 months, or $960, to secure the loan. I explained that I didn't have another $1,000, that my bank account was now empty, and this was why I was applying for a loan. He suggested I ask someone to borrow, or that I could get a refund. The refund, however, would take up to 30 days to receive, as "the mail doesn't go out everyday." I eventually hung in frustration, since he was not willing to promise me a refund in a timely matter. Two days later (September 5), I called and left a message for customer service to activate my refund, leaving my phone number so that they could return my call. No one did.
I waited until September 10 to try again, left another message, and then called back several hours later to discover that the phone number was no longer working. I also attempted to call the number that appeared on caller ID when Karen Winters called, but it would not go through either. Since then (just a couple hours ago, actually) I've found information showing this man to be a scam artist. Charges will be pressed through the Better Business Bureau and the FBI.
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