Question:
Dear Steve,
I’m one of many ripped off by 321 loans, I sent my info to the receivership and have not heard back from them. I’m worried I will lose all my money from this. I was involved in a lawsuit prior to them being shut down now that was halted. I don’t want my money paying the government to take these people to court. I like to know what I can do if I don’t receive any of my money back when the government is done with this.
Russell
Answer:
Dear Russell,
You should just assume you are going to get screwed over in this mess. When a scam gets shut down, a lot of the money taken by the people involved is already hidden or sent offshore.
You might actually get a little bit of money back but you will almost certainly get more from the government efforts than you will on your own.
This is a very complex case that extends into as many as four different countries, involves about 62 different companies, and includes countless numbers of moving parts.
Even if you spent $250,000 in legal fees to go after 321 Loans and won, there just isn’t going to be any money available to repay you because the government action is already chasing all the available money.
The issue here is not the court appointed receiver as much as it is the scam to begin with. If the scam had not existed, consumers like you would not have been sucked in and paid money into something that was not delivering what commissioned salespeople promised.
Here is just a taste from the Receiver’s last report.
According to the court appointed receiver in this case, as of October 14, 2017 they have identified “$50,276,034.76 in “credits” that Defendants and Relief Defendants received from consumers from June 1, 2014 to May 31, 2016.”
Much of that money was siphoned off and/or spent on things other than delivering the services consumers believed they were purchasing. “At the time the Receiver was appointed in May, the then existing Receivership Defendants had $893,638.89 in their combined bank accounts and owned no real estate.”
But some money is being recovered for consumer refunds. The Receiver says, “As set forth above, to date the Receiver has brought into the Receivership cash and property exceeding $19.4 million (excluding the over $6.25 million in nonperforming loans, numerous vehicles, National Arms, jewelry and other personal property). The Receiver continues to identify real estate, other assets and transfers and will continue to take such actions as are advisable to return assets to the Receivership Estate for the benefit of consumers and others as directed by the PI (including the $6.6 million in houses Defendants Smith, Marcus and his family purchased with consumer money).”
But the Receiver has also uncovered more problems with the operations. The report says, “The Receiver’s investigation also has revealed practices engaged in by the Defendants that appear to be deceptive and unlawful. For example, in order to improve consumers’ credit scores, Defendants appear to have falsely reported to major credit agencies that an independent third party lender called NGP Enterprises, LLC (“NGP”) had issued the customers loans and that they had been making monthly loan repayments. Defendants further reported as NGP’s phone number for the credit agencies and creditors to call when seeking verification, a number that instead rang at the Defendants’ offices in an effort to apparently deceive.
“Call scripts” reviewed by the Receiver’s team also reflect the use of deceptive statements to induce consumers into enrolling or continuing to make payments to the Receivership Defendants. These include representations that the debt relief programs being sold were administered by not for profit organization(s) and misleading statements as to the caller’s identity.
The Receiver has also discovered evidence suggesting that the Defendants at times used consumers’ escrow monies for personal benefit, including for the purchase of Defendant Marcus’ waterfront home.”
You can read the full Receiver report that was submitted to the court if you click here.
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I was scammed by 321 Loans for 2 years and it messed up my credit.I received a couple of settlement payments from FTC.
My question is how do I show proof to the credit reporting agencies that I was scared so that they can remove the negative report from my accounts?
Charles,
It sounds as if your credit report did report your accounts accurately because you were behind, is that a fair statement?
Steve
I was paying $399.00 a month from my checking account for 2yrs I want my money back I have all the documents that was sent to me I have retired my credit score is worse than its ever been I have the application of my monthly payments and when it started what can do I can’t afford a layer.
Unfortunately harmed consumers will only be able to receive a fraction of what they paid based on the money the Receiver can recover. Keep you eyes open for all correspondence or emails you may get from the court-appointed receiver.
I was scammed also by these people I currently do debt consolidation through a lawyer what they took from me will pay off my remaining debt are they going to reimburse the people affected
It is unlikely enough money will be recovered to fully refund former customers.
now that they settled?! what happens?
You will have to watch your mail for a notice of a small reimbursement check from the receiver once he is done gathering all the money together that was recovered. As far as your debt issues go, that’s all back on you now.
Yes I was also scammed by 321 Financial. I would like my money back too. I paid enough to those scammers. That is really said. Just tell me how I can get my funds back
Russell I guess everyone should just hope the government recovered enough funds to a refund to all effected. This is slated for Trial in May I believe
Posted question about getting my money back from 321 Loans.