Complaint / Review
American Customized Network
Fraudulent debt collectors - They keep your money and disappear

In November of I received a call from someone named Alan Rayford, of American Customized Network, who told me that I had an outstanding and unpaid debt from a payday cash advance I had been given the year before (that part was true). Mr. Rayford went on to tell me that the case was coming up for a civil hearing that same week unless it was paid.

My wife called this Mr. Rayford at 866-596-6017, and arranged to have the debt paid. She paid it from a check out of her personal bank account. We believed all was well and the debt was paid.

A few weeks later, we received a call from a civil mediator that we still owed an outstanding debt from a payday loan. Knowing that I only received one payday loan for the paltry sum of $300 and there were no others, we believed that this was a mistake or that the payday loan company had perhaps contacted more than one debt collector to recoup the funds. We faxed this mediator a copy of the check my wife had sent and didn't hear back.

A few more weeks later, we get a call that I am still being taken to court for the payday loan and that there is a possibility my wages could be garnished. We contacted these new debt collectors and found that the payday loan people were never paid by American Customized Network. We called Mr. Rayford back and found that the number was disconnected. My wife is currently in the process of having her bank and the local police investigate this company and determine how they found out I was in debt for a payday loan and where they have gone to. We are tracing them through the bank they used in Lockport, NY, where they had (or still have, I hope) an account and cashed my wife's $430 check.

My question is how exactly DID they know I was in debt for a payday loan? Did the payday loan company recruit them to collect the debt? Did they advertise that they were a collection company to gain the confidence of the payday loan people so that they could get a list of those having outstanding debts and then went after those people, and then keep the money?

We are investigating all of this, and I am thinking of taking a nice little drive up to Lockport (I also live in New York) and hopefully getting to meet someone from this so-called "company" face to face. They are not going to have a good day if I do happen to meet up with them.

I will keep complaint updated on the outcome of this report.