I went online and submitted loan applications to about 3-4 different places. I then received an email from Portman Keane Financial and a loan underwriter named "Nicole Gaines at ext 488" with downloadable loan documents detailing the amt, payment date, and other information reguarding the loan. It also had a rather large section telling me about loan protection insurance and specified what the coverage was for and the amounts for two different insurance options. Once I contacted her at her extension she began telling me that I was approved for $10,000 but that due to my credit, and also because this was a lender that had private investors, that I had to carry an insurance premium and it would be required to pay it up-front, rather than including it into my loan payments... Also due to my credit rating. Sounded very legitimate, I went online and did some research even on this website (scambook) and at the time there was no complaints at all, not on any website. So, that made me feel more comfortable, also because their website looked very professional. So a couple days later when I was able to come up with the $750 and also had all the paperwork I needed faxed in, I called her to ask how to pay for it and was going to give her my debit card information. But to my surprise she said she could not accept a bank issued debit card for the transaction because they have to place a "hold" on the funds so it would have to be on a GreenDot Moneypak card.instead because after 6 mo's they refund half of the premium back to you. I also asked her if that "750" was to cover the insurance premium for the duration of the loan and she said yes, although the loan paperwork stated that after 3 months the premium would have to be added into the loan (don't know why I didn't question that but I just assumed it was a good thing that I wasn't gonna have to pay a higher loan payment after 3 months so I kept my mouth shut) So after I put the money on the Moneypak card and called her to give the numbers she told me that she was going to put a rush on the loan so that I would most likely have the funds that day. After several calls to check she kept saying that it was still processing because they were busy with it being the last day of the week. Luckily that was the case, because it gave me time to do a little more research online again and this time I found 1 complaint on scambook that had just been submitted a few hours prior. So I immediately called her and asked what this was all about and she kept assuring me that I had nothing to worry about. I didn't trust her so I started to call the companies that she told me they could have gotten my application from (she said Wells Fargo, Lending Tree etc.) Both of these 'well known' companies had no idea who Portman Keane was. So I called moneypak and checked that the $750 was still on the card and it was and I was able to have the money transfered back to me, unfortunately though they can't just put it on your bank issued debit card, it has to go on another prepaid "greendot" card so to hurry and not waste any time I went to greendots website and clicked "get a card" they generated a card with all of the numbers so they can then transfer the money on to that. But I then went a step further and went to walgreens and purchased another one to transfer the money on so I would have something I could use with money right away. To date, I have found out that all of the information provided on their website's links is copied from Wells Fargo (really, check it out) and that the domain name portmankeane.com was just created on 8/29 that I found using estibot.com... Just type in the domain name. I think everyone should post who contacted them and at what ext. Because it is all so bogus! Good luck to anyone else who has gone through the same thing, but please... If you're reading this before the money is taken off your money pak card... Hurry up and get a Green dot online like I did and get the funds transferred right away!!!
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