I had originally taken out a loan with UCL last year and I had no problems at that time. They always received my payment requests via email and never once had to fax them. Because I didn't have any problems the first time, when I needed a little extra money this year I went with them again. I went to their website and applied for a loan. I was approved for $350 and decided that even though I didn't need that much, I would use the extra for something else. Well... To make a long story short, while I only renewed the loan I didn't encounter any problems. On April 24th, I emailed my request for the loan to paid in full on May 3rd. When I checked my email that morning I was completely surprised and then angry because they had only taken the renewal fee. When I tried to contact them on their website I discovered that there was no phone number and so I was left with the only option of emailing them. This I did twice and then I typed a letter threatening a lawsuit if they did not supply me with a phone number so that I could talk to someone. Surprisingly they did receive THAT fax and contacted me via email with a phone number. I called 6 times that first day and 3 the next. They had emailed me a "late payout form" to send back to them. This I did twice and they still didn't receive it. I faxed it to them and even though my transaction report said they received it, they continued to tell me they weren't receiving either my faxes or emails and told me I didn't know what I was doing. On May 9th I called again and spoke with Allison, who as soon as I blew up and told her that I was going to go to the Better Business Bureau and have them investigated, she promptly hung up on me. I then called back and spoke to Terri who told me that as soon as I mentioned The BBB, my account was "transferred to another department and that manager would contact me on Monday". No one called me on Monday. I called the Attorney Generals Office here in Lansing and they directed me to the Dept of Labor-Office of Financial and Insurance Regulations. I was then told about all of these reports and that the state of Maine had actually issued a "cease and desist order" for doing business. I was also told that if I ever wanted to do business with an online company to call the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulations because they hold the licensure information and can tell you whether the company is legit or a scam. They then emailed me on May 12th stating that per "our agreement" that on May 13th the remaining $350 would be due. I never once agreed to that date. It was supposed to be Friday. They took the money from my account on the 13th. I have to close my checking account and to be real honest, this scared the crap out of me. I've always been very cautious about what I do on the web and now I'll be even more careful. Make sure you call the Dept of Labor-OFIR before doing any business on the web. I think they knew that I was serious and that they better take their money and run before I came after them.
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