Consumers lose over $7 Million to Pay Day Loan Scammers

The pay day loan world is already bad enough for most consumers who use it. Now we find out that in addition to the insanely high interest rates that make it impossible to pay off the initial loan, an operation allegedly sold applicants’ information to a scammer who raided their bank accounts and credit cards.

In this iteration of the scam, a data reseller sold the information to a company that it allegedly knew would carry out unauthorized charges on the pay day loan applicant’s accounts and credit cards. The reseller sold each individual consumer’s record for 50 cents.

The scammer who bought the information however allegedly made a killing bilking innocent consumers for over $7 million dollars. Consumer hit with surprise charges were hit the expected overdraft fees and some had to close accounts to get away from the scammers.

Everyone should be forewarned to stay away from the murky world of pay day loans that still are largely unregulated. The internet is perhaps making it harder to get a handle on it. But once pay day loans get their claws on you and your money, it is going to be awhile before you can walk away.

I see it every day when I talk with consumers exploring bankruptcy. They cannot understand how a measly $500.00 loan has take 6 months or more of bi-weekly payments to pay off.  I get it that sometimes a bill has to be paid, but these loans are modern piracy and legalized loan sharking.