This company contacted me over the telephone. The caller id listed the number as private. I had applied for a loan on a few websites online but not with this company. On the initial contact I was told that the loan had been approved but a collateral payment would be in order to secure the loan. I asked for written information and the "loan officer" faxed over a loan agreement. On the loan agreement there was no local number but there was a toll free number listed. I did a reverse lookup of this number and it came back as private/unlisted. I did a reverse lookup of the fax number and it came back as private/unlisted but the lookup confirmed that it was registered through a wireless/cellular company.
I googled the company name and nothing came up. I googled the website address and nothing came up. I googled the address and nothing came up under Birchmount Financial Services but a few matches for a company named United Lending Corporation popped up and one of them was a link to this website (usacomplaints.com). The linked report lists the same type of activity by United Lending Corporation I have encountered with Birchmount Financial Services. It seems like too much of a coincidence that the address is the same.
When asked how the collateral payment would be processed I was told either through cashiers check or Western Union. No personal checks, credit cards or paypal payments are accepted. They have to be the only online business that doesn't accept Paypal.
When I voiced my concerns to the "loan officer" over not having a way to verify that I was dealing with a legitimate and reputable business, the "loan officer" became offended instead of being understanding and attempting to ease my concerns.
I can not prove that this company is phishing but there are a lot of Red Flags.
There is also no record on file with the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau for this company.
It appears they are going to great lengths to conceal their location and identity, ie. Private numbers, toll free numbers, cellular fax lines.
The fact that their website is not listed with any search engine is a red flag. You literally can not find their website unless you know the exact url. A legitimate online business would try to be as visible as possible.
Caveat Emptor.
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