Pay1Day Releases Warning to Customers Regarding Recent Collections Scam

Los Angeles, CA (Vocus) August 31, 2010

Due to a recent flood of complaints in the State of Illinois from payday lending customers being contacted and asked for bank account information, both the State Attorney General Lisa Madigan and payday lenders alike are issuing warnings to payday loan customers. It seems that several payday loan customers have been contacted by a fake “collections” company asking customer’s about their payday loan debt and ultimately attempting to get the customer’s account number. Pay1Day, a direct online lender that cares about the privacy of their customer’s personal finance information, is issuing this press release as a warning in hopes of helping to put a stop to this scam.

The Illinois Attorney General’s office on August 25th, 2010 issued an official statement warning consumers in the State of Illinois about the recent wave of fake collections calls, and offered residents some tips for handling a potential scam call. She reminded those receiving a suspicious call that, contrary to what you may be told, a payday loan customer cannot actually go to jail for not paying off a debt in time. She advised those threatened by a potential debt collector to hang up the phone and file an official complaint with the Attorney General’s office (http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov) or by calling the AG’s Consumer Fraud Hotline at 1 800 386-5438 for the Chicago area) to assist in putting these practice to a halt.

And although the State of Illinois’ warning was issued just days ago, Pay1day.com had already issued a warning to customers on their payday loan blog. As a direct lender who promotes responsible lending practices, it is crucial to step in and provide customers with the information necessary to help avoid any scams targeting payday loan customers.

The “false” collectors have reportedly used several names, most are false and the business does not actually exist, but the scammers have also used names of actual legitimate businesses such as Cash Net USA and Quick Cash that are online cash advance lenders. Also Cash USA has released a statement letting customers know that they had nothing to do with the scams, and their name was most likely used in order to make the collectors sound more legitimate, thus increasing the chances of fooling a customer into authorizing a payment.

If you receive any calls such as described please contact your State’s Attorney General’s office to report the complaint. We hope to see the persons responsible brought to justice swiftly, before any more consumers are harassed or taken advantage of. Payday loan customers can always find helpful tips about this and other topics and info at our payday loans blog page as well.

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