Victim Location 37416
Total money lost $400
Type of a scam Advance Fee Loan
I have been trying to get a loan to purchase a car for a few weeks now and I was contacted via phone by Shawn Avilla (representative) and Peter Dowling (loan officer) from Loans Financials, saying I qualified for a loan from $*** up to so much. After talking with them on the phone for over an hour, I was told that I would need to purchase insurance to cover the unsecured loan and would need to purchase a Google Play card to pay for the insurance, then once I paid the insurance of $***, then they would do a wire transfer for the loan amount I requested into my checking account. They answered every question I had and was very assuring at everything they said, including pulling their on lively-hood in to the equation. They first asked for $*** for the insurance fee but when I explained that I did not have $***, they said they could help me by getting the insurance fee dropped to $***. I explained to them that was all the money that I had and they reassured me that I would be reimbursed and that my loan would be in the bank by morning. Once I did everything they asked me to do, I was called back and was informed that since I was a first time "out of state" loan borrower, I would have to send an additional $*** for city and state taxes. Where I live, we have a city sales tax but there is NOT a state tax. I tried to opt out of the loan and asked for my $*** back but they said that they could not do that. I asked to even lower the amount I was borrowing and I was told in order to that, I would have to re-apply for the loan and pay the insurance fee again. When I started asking more questions and pressing my concern, Peter asked me if I was threatening him and I replied "No", I am just trying to get all the facts straight. This company made me feel as if they really wanted to help someone like me who is in need of a loan for a vehicle to get to and from work. This company took my money and took advantage of the already bad situation I was in and made it worse. I may be out $***, I may have to keep struggling over poor judgement but I am posting this in hopes that I will be able to help someone out there not to get taken advantage of by people like Shawn and Peter at Loans Financials.