Question: The story’s too long to tell in one message, but suffice to say I applied for a debt consolidation loan from a broker in Dallas who advertized in my local paper (Los Angeles Times). Basically, they quoted me a $26,000 personal loan at 9.5%, and only required a $375 fee to “get the ball rolling”. I was hesitant, but a call to the Dallas BBB showed no complaints on file for them.
After three months I have not received my money, and the company just disconnected their phone lines yesterday. Yep. A scam. And I was a victim.
It’s not so much the $375 I want back, but I am concerned for all the people who’ll lose money to these folks when they open up again in another month, under a new name and in a new city.
A word of advice (taken in part more or less from the BBB): NEVER, NEVER pay an up-front fee for a debt-consolidation or personal loan. If the company is legit, they should be more than happy to deduct their finder’s fee from the final loan proceeds.
Incidentally, the company was listed as follows:
The Bradley Exchange 9550 Forest Lane Suite 107 Dallas, TX. 75243 (800) 341-9495 (214) 341-9495
The day their phones went down, the BBB claimed they’ve had thousands of calls from across the country regarding Bradley Exchange.
I am confident that all the employees were using aliases, but here are some names of employees that I had spoken to there:
Christian Taylor Sterling Hart Deborah Long
According to one of the receptionists, the president’s name was Rick Masters.
If you happen to see any ads for any other companies like this, and they happen to have any reps with the above names…CALL THE FEDS ON THEM!!!
A final question: Do I have any way of ever getting the money, or should I just write it off as a “bad experience” and consider it a valuable lesson learned?
Answer: Unfortunately the BBB is useless in the case of scam artists as they are long gone by the time any complaint is made. by Federal law all requests for information on your credit report, reasons for loan rejection, or other specific credit information MUST be filed with the agency in WRITING.
If you are particulary interested in tracking down this law, look at any of your credit card agreements, or ask the Lending Tree to send you theirs. There is always a statement about this policy, and most will refer to the “Truth in Lending” and other acts that refer to requests for information.
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