Do you need to borrow money to pay for car repairs, consolidate credit card debt, or pay off your mortgage? In an advance fee loan scam, scammers promise to get you a loan, credit card, or access to credit. Or on the other hand they say they’ll place you in contact with a loan specialist who can in all likelihood get you those things. Disregarding your record as a consumer. However, that’s what they say, first, you should pay ahead of time. The trickster might say the cash is to pay a “handling” expense, “protection,” “application,” or something different. Be that as it may, it’s completely false. There is no advance or bank. What’s more, assuming that you pay, the con artist and your cash will be no more.
Advance-charge advance tricks target individuals with poor or unfortunate credit or who are experiencing difficulty getting a credit for different reasons. Tricksters post promotions, frequently on the web, or call individuals to offer these probably advantageous arrangements. A considerable lot of these tricksters purchase arrangements of the names of individuals who have looked for or applied for payday credits or different credits on the web.
This is what you need to know:
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- Legitimate lenders will not promise you a loan or other credit without knowing your credit history, nor will they require you to pay them first.
- Real lenders may ask you to pay an application or appraisal fee before they will consider your loan application.
- But no one who operates legitimately will tell you that paying a fee will guarantee you a loan.
Warning Signs of an Advance Fee Loan Scam
Here are some signs of a possible advance fee loan scam:
- Scammers post ads that say you can get credit regardless of your credit history. They may say things like, “Do you have credit problems? No problem.” “No hassle: guaranteed”, or “We don’t care about your past. You deserve a loan!” Banks and other legitimate lenders will not promise or guarantee a loan or credit to you before you apply. They will first review your credit report and confirm the information on your application, and before making a firm credit offer, they will consider whether you are able to repay the loan.
- Scammers don’t disclose charges before you apply for a loan. Fraudulent lenders may claim to have approved you for a loan. But then they tell you that you have to pay before you can get the money. It is a scam. Any upfront fee the lender wants to charge you before giving you the loan is a clue to walk away, especially if they tell you it’s an “insurance,” “processing,” or just “paperwork” fee.
- Scammers call to offer loans or other types of credit. But it’s illegal for telemarketers to promise you a loan or other credit and ask you to pay a fee before giving you the loan. This is established by the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
Protect yourself
Do you have doubts that you are talking to a legitimate lender? The following steps can help protect you from scammers.
- Find out if the lender is registered in your state. Suppliers should enroll with the state where they work. Contact your state principal legal officer’s office or banking or monetary administrations controller to see whether a supplier is enlisted.
- Search on the web. Enter the organization name into a web crawler alongside words like “survey”, “grievance” or “trick”; in the event that you search in Spanish, add words like “remark”, “remark”, or “trick”. You can likewise do a hunt by entering telephone numbers to check whether others have revealed those numbers regarding a trick.
- Hang up the telephone to pre-recorded robocalls. In the event that you pick up the telephone and hear a recording with a deals advancement, hang up the telephone and report the call to the FTC. These calls are illegal. Do not press 1, 2 or any other number to have your name removed from a call list or to speak to a person. Doing so will only receive more calls.
- Don’t pay for a promise. If someone asks you to pay them up front in exchange for a credit card, loan offer, debt relief, mortgage assistance, or a job, turn around and walk away. Nobody legitimately trading will ever ask you to pay for a promise. If they do, it is more than likely a scam.
- Seek help to deal with your debts. You may have more options than you think. There are nonprofit organizations in every state that offer credit counseling services, and they often provide services for free or at low cost. Learn more about other possible options to deal with your debts.
