Anyone applying for a personal loan should reckon long and hard before agreeing to pay any upfront fees.
The Citizens advice Bureau have issued a warning that plenty of people are being scammed out of money from unscrupulous Loan companies, who are demanding a payment upfront for a loan. Once a payment has been made to these people the loan is unlikely to materialise.
This is becomming more of an occurrence as loans have become less readily available since the credit crunch. The people who are mainly targeted by these dishonest loan companies are the people who can least afford to lose money i.e. People with a terrible credit score or people who are on a low income and would struggle to find a loan anywhere else.
The most recent one is a company trading under the website quick247loan.co.uk. They are asking for the applicant to make a months payment in advance demanding the applicant pays money into their bank account before any funds can be released.
These people are using the credentials of a trusted and respectable online loans broker so that they can add credibility to their company. This is being showed on their website along with their loan agreement form.
This company is obviously trading without a valid Consumer Credit Licence or Data Protection; otherwise it would not be publishing the details of Interfinancial Limited, one of the internets most respected loans brokers.
Once the victims of this scam have sent their money off to the scammers, it is unfortunate that they find it impossible to get their money back.
Stuart Pike of Interfinancial Limited said “These people are the lowest form of criminal, preying on the people that mainly cannot afford to be conned out of their money. I would strongly urge that loan applicants do not agree to pay any upfront fees to loan companies in order to process their loan application.”
He also said “Changes need to be made to legislation bringing in tougher penalties for these people, it appears that more and more of them are giving their companies names that sound like well know or respected brokers in order to add credibility.”
He went on to add “I cannot believe how disinterested the various governing bodies seem to be when anyone tries to report such a scam, and unfortunately until the likes of the Office of Honest Trading, Trading Standards or even the Police start to act this situation is not going to get any better.”
Apply for a safe loan with a reputable and honest broker online today!