I did an experiment. In light of a recent situation I got myself into, I wanted to see just how many people are in the same situation. Granted, I am not alone, as in there are many who chalk up big debts. Which is why the number of bankruptcy cases are increasing. My debts are not that big, but big enough. But whereas I lost big due to bad investment, most of them chalk up debts due to gambling, soccer betting and maximization of credit utilities, which are things I will never do. I do not even buy any lottery or Toto or whatsoever!
Anyway, due to this, I came across a lot of advertisements on personal loans. I believe most have the same kind of problems – in debt, unable to pay back, creditors hounding day in day out, other banks and finance companies refuse a loan due to bad debts. The situation is the same everywhere.
Which is why many “private companies” put up advertisements on “guaranteed” personal loans. I guess when one is desperate, one will be driven to all kinds of things. And there are quite a number of these advertisements on loan services, all to play on people’s downtrodden luck.
What I did was to write into a few. I have never intended to borrow anything from anyone because I do not wish to incur more interest and debts, but out of curiosity, I just wanted to see where things go. Besides, I never believed in all these advertisements as they really sound too good to be true!
Imagine they say they give international loans, even with bad credit. They frame it in such a way that they are the hopes for those whose loans got rejected by everyone else, so have to turn to them, there would be no credit checks, all will be approved, etc. So I wrote a sob story on how I was chased by creditors, how I really really needed a loan to tide me over, how if they could help I would be so grateful. And some of them emailed me back instantly, asking how much and the tenure.
First thing, if they are a real finance company, they would not be functioning as a sole proprietorship. And they would be using a registered company’s email address, and not just any mere web-based email. Second, is it really possible to verify one’s particulars so fast? Everything is done through email, no face to face interviews, no credit checks, no background checks. This reeks of a total scam!
Third, if they are in the private loan business, do they really have so much money to dish out a loan to just anyone from anywhere in the world, without even verifying if the person gave the real particulars and involved in a real situation? And I am talking about big sums of say five-figures with a tenure of ten years with just minimal three percent interest or so. Even banks will never allow that!
Fourth, they state that no collateral is needed. So there will be no need to mortgage any assets or pledge any form of deposit. Is that really possible? When people borrow from any form of finance companies, there will be some form of a pledge of assets. So if the lenders do not expect any form of collateral, where are they going to make money in case the borrower defaults payment and disappear?
Some of the “usurers” claim they are doing the work of God. So it is God again. Seriously, why use God? They claim they are doing a service and only a God-fearing person will be approved for a loan. So anyone can claim they are God-fearing and the loan will be approved? Anyway these “lenders” make things sound so good, like the money is waiting, just pending the bank transfer, so I had to supply them my bank account number and bank name and SWIFT code. Which makes me think, anyone can supply fake credentials and none will be the wiser.
The final step is that before the funds can be transferred to my bank account, I need to pay a transfer or processing fee. Ah… so that is where the catch is! And they claim the fee cannot be offset or deducted from the loan amount because the loan amount is fully insured, yadda yadda.
I deal with banking and finance transactions as part of my daily work, I know very well the banks will charge for funds transfer, and the bank charges are deducted directly from the amount transferred! So if I am to transfer US$20,000.00 to someone, he will get about US$19,850 or so. If he is to get the full US$20,000.00, I have to transfer about US$20,150.00 to him in order to offset the bank charges! No such thing as paying advance for any form of processing fee or bank transfer charges!
So this is how these people work. Chances are if the person really pay the processing fee of a few hundred, these people may claim they have a problem transferring the funds and ask for more money, and more and more proceedings will be involved, until in the end the victim end up with more debts and no sign of the loan.
Seriously, people are already low on funds. The fact that they can take on whichever loan offer shows just how dire their situations are. Can they really afford to pay the advance fee? Even if they did so, they would have thought the loan would come by easily, but when is there ever a free lunch?
Wonder how many really fall for these scams? A few months back, I wrote something on email scams, that these people will do anything to cheat. Especially on desperate, unsuspecting people who will do anything to get themselves out of debt. Honestly, if they claim themselves as so “God-fearing”, they should not be preying on a person’s downtrodden luck to benefit themselves.
Anyway, due to this, I came across a lot of advertisements on personal loans. I believe most have the same kind of problems – in debt, unable to pay back, creditors hounding day in day out, other banks and finance companies refuse a loan due to bad debts. The situation is the same everywhere.
Which is why many “private companies” put up advertisements on “guaranteed” personal loans. I guess when one is desperate, one will be driven to all kinds of things. And there are quite a number of these advertisements on loan services, all to play on people’s downtrodden luck.
What I did was to write into a few. I have never intended to borrow anything from anyone because I do not wish to incur more interest and debts, but out of curiosity, I just wanted to see where things go. Besides, I never believed in all these advertisements as they really sound too good to be true!
Imagine they say they give international loans, even with bad credit. They frame it in such a way that they are the hopes for those whose loans got rejected by everyone else, so have to turn to them, there would be no credit checks, all will be approved, etc. So I wrote a sob story on how I was chased by creditors, how I really really needed a loan to tide me over, how if they could help I would be so grateful. And some of them emailed me back instantly, asking how much and the tenure.
First thing, if they are a real finance company, they would not be functioning as a sole proprietorship. And they would be using a registered company’s email address, and not just any mere web-based email. Second, is it really possible to verify one’s particulars so fast? Everything is done through email, no face to face interviews, no credit checks, no background checks. This reeks of a total scam!
Third, if they are in the private loan business, do they really have so much money to dish out a loan to just anyone from anywhere in the world, without even verifying if the person gave the real particulars and involved in a real situation? And I am talking about big sums of say five-figures with a tenure of ten years with just minimal three percent interest or so. Even banks will never allow that!
Fourth, they state that no collateral is needed. So there will be no need to mortgage any assets or pledge any form of deposit. Is that really possible? When people borrow from any form of finance companies, there will be some form of a pledge of assets. So if the lenders do not expect any form of collateral, where are they going to make money in case the borrower defaults payment and disappear?
Some of the “usurers” claim they are doing the work of God. So it is God again. Seriously, why use God? They claim they are doing a service and only a God-fearing person will be approved for a loan. So anyone can claim they are God-fearing and the loan will be approved? Anyway these “lenders” make things sound so good, like the money is waiting, just pending the bank transfer, so I had to supply them my bank account number and bank name and SWIFT code. Which makes me think, anyone can supply fake credentials and none will be the wiser.
The final step is that before the funds can be transferred to my bank account, I need to pay a transfer or processing fee. Ah… so that is where the catch is! And they claim the fee cannot be offset or deducted from the loan amount because the loan amount is fully insured, yadda yadda.
I deal with banking and finance transactions as part of my daily work, I know very well the banks will charge for funds transfer, and the bank charges are deducted directly from the amount transferred! So if I am to transfer US$20,000.00 to someone, he will get about US$19,850 or so. If he is to get the full US$20,000.00, I have to transfer about US$20,150.00 to him in order to offset the bank charges! No such thing as paying advance for any form of processing fee or bank transfer charges!
So this is how these people work. Chances are if the person really pay the processing fee of a few hundred, these people may claim they have a problem transferring the funds and ask for more money, and more and more proceedings will be involved, until in the end the victim end up with more debts and no sign of the loan.
Seriously, people are already low on funds. The fact that they can take on whichever loan offer shows just how dire their situations are. Can they really afford to pay the advance fee? Even if they did so, they would have thought the loan would come by easily, but when is there ever a free lunch?
Wonder how many really fall for these scams? A few months back, I wrote something on email scams, that these people will do anything to cheat. Especially on desperate, unsuspecting people who will do anything to get themselves out of debt. Honestly, if they claim themselves as so “God-fearing”, they should not be preying on a person’s downtrodden luck to benefit themselves.
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