| Review...
On December 1, 2007 I was contacted by Owen Adams from First Point Loans. He left me a voice mail stating I had been approved for a loan by one of their lenders. I don't even remember applying for a loan with this company! I called him back that Monday and he proceeded to tell me that I had been approved by a private lender for a secured loan in the amount of $5000.
The only condition was that I would have to send $900 via Money Gram and once that had taken place, the money would be wired to my bank account within 24 hours. So, since I am a single mother struggling to get by and it is the Christmas season, I went against my better judgment and sent him the money on 12/5/07 in the amount of $900 plus $14.16 for handling fees that I was told would be given back to me with my loan. The next day, the money wasn't in my account.
After numerous attempts, I finally got through to Mr. Owen Adams and he said that there had been a problem with the lender. The lender needed an additional $900 in order for my loan to be sent to me. This amount was to insure the loan. So, on 12/5/07 I sent them another Money Gram in the amount of $900 plus $14.16 for handling fees. Again, I was told that my money would be deposited into my account within 24 hours of the transaction. Well, two days past and still no money in my account. So once again, I tried to contact Mr. Owen Adams and he proceeded to tell me that the lender had backed out of the loan and their company was going to take out a class-action lawsuit against them. When I asked who the lender was, he said that he couldn't tell me due to privacy reasons. He said that my file was being transferred over to his supervisor, James Green and that he was the "one who could get things done and get me my loan".
Well, I spoke with Mr. Green, after numerous attempts, and he said "GOOD NEWS" a new lender had accepted my loan in the new amount of $7000. All I would have to come up with would be $1,800. I told him that I had already sent his company $1,800 and could not send anymore and that I just wanted my money back. He assured me that he would get to the bottom of things because once a lender agrees they can't back out of a loan. He called me back and said that he "personally" spoke with the lender and that they would give me the $7000 loan within 24 hours if I sent them $800 plus $14.16. He once again assured me that my money would be in my account within 24 hours. So, I borrowed $800 from a friend and sent in another $800 on 12/12/07. This time the money gram was sent to a different person from the last two. The first two I had to send to Jenessesa Cowan in Boykim, Alberta Canada. The last one was sent to Melissa Rutty in Winham, Ontario Canada.
After I sent the last money gram in the amount of $800 plus the handling fees I called Mr. Green back just like the two times before with the reference numbers. He said again that I would have my money by the time my bank opened on the next day. On 12/13/07 at 8:30 I called my bank and nothing was in there. I tried all day to reach Mr. Green and never got an answer. I finally got through to him that afternoon and he once again had an explanation. He said that he would get with the accounting department and to call him back in 20 minutes. The new dilemma was there was some type of TAX I was suppose to pay because the funds were coming from Canada. I said that NO ONE had told me anything about paying any type of taxes and that I just either wanted my loan or my money back. He assured me that the funds would be in my account no later than Friday night at midnight. Well, I called him first thing Friday morning and all I got was his voicemail. I left a message but never received a return call. I continued to call him and still all I got was his voicemail until Friday afternoon at about 3:30pm. When I called that time, I received a new message stating: "Universal account had been placed on hold please contact customer service" then the message stopped and the call was ended. It didn't give a number to call for customer service. I have been trying to call all weekend and all day today.
I contacted the Money Gram office on Friday afternoon and all they could tell me was that the money had been picked up but they could not give me any additional information unless I had a attorney to get the records for me. They did give me a number to report them to the government fraud agency. I gave this company all of the money I had, so now I am going to lose my car, my house, and I don't have any money for food, gas, much less Christmas. Please if anyone has anymore information please pass it on. It is up to us to stop these people because they are preying on people with poor credit, trying to get ahead, and people who don't have a lot of money to start with. |
