Consumer complaint received 2017-12-19
Company: Home Loan Center, Inc.
State: NC
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Getting the loan

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a text message at XXXX XXXX saying " Congratulations!! Your Loan Application has been approved up to {$10000.00}. In order to complete the loan procedure, kindly call us back at XXXX and speak with one of our Representatives. Thank you and have a blessed day. XXXX XXXX!!! XXXX XXXX!!! : A XXXX XXXX XXXX contacted me a couple days later and after talking with me and I confirmed that I would like to do the loan, he told me I needed to pay {$250.00} for insurance, but in order to do that, I had to purchase 3 XXXX cards in the following denominations : 2 of {$100.00} each and one for {$50.00}. Once I did that I was to call him back and read the Reference numbers out to him after I had scratched the back of each card. I did all of that, even though I did not like the fact that I was buying XXXX cards supposedly to pay for insurance. XXXX XXXX told me that once I did that, he would call me back within 30 to 40 minutes and the money ( {$10.00} ; XXXX ) would be in my checking account at that time. After waiting a couple of hours and not hearing anything from him, I called him back at the number I was given, to no avail, as he would not answer the call. A man named XXXX answered and said XXXX was unavailable. He, also, told me that because my credit score was lower than required for the loan, they could not do the loan until I paid an additional {$200.00}. I told him I did not have an additional {$200.00}, at that time and that I would like to get my money back, but they would not refund it. I had to wait a couple more weeks to get {$200.00} more, which I did on XX/XX/XXXX, but it was during the XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX was off until the next week. When Monday, XX/XX/XXXX came, I called their office, off and on, all day, but no answer and the next day off and on all morning, but still did not receive any answer. XXXX XXXX finally called me Tuesday afternoon the XX/XX/XXXX. By that time, I had had to spend {$15.00} of the {$200.00}, leaving me with {$180.00}. I told XXXX XXXX that I had the {$200.00} until right before he called me, but I had had to get gas for my car to go to an appointment that day. He assured me that was OK ... in fact, he told me to just get {$180.00} of XXXX cards, which I did, and that even though my credit score was still about 3 points below what they required, there should be no problem and that the {$10000.00} should be deposited into my checking account after midnight that night, the XX/XX/XXXX. I waited until about XXXX on the XX/XX/XXXX but did not hear from XXXX XXXX nor had the money been deposited into my account. I called him many times from the afternoon of the XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, off and on, but he refused to talk to me to tell me what the problem was and has not refunded my {$430.00}. 

On the last phone message I left them Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I told them that the message was for XXXX, XXXX 's Supervisor and XXXX XXXX and that I would be reporting them to the Commissioner of Banks and the Consumer Protection Agency ( Consumer Finance ). I also told them that all they had to do, if there was a problem was to just talk to me, tell me what the problem was so we could try to work it out or just refund the money I had paid them of {$430.00}. They have my checking account number so they could have deposited it directly into my account. 

XX/XX/XXXX, Monday - Had not heard from anyone at XXXX XXXX all weekend, but received a call from XXXX XXXX XXXX around XXXX XXXX. He apologized for not having deposited my loan into my checking account, but stated that he 'd been sick with the XXXX. He then told me to check my account in the next 30 - 45 minutes and the {$10000.00} Loan would be there. However, when I checked, 3 hours later, the Loan still was not there. I called back about 3 times after his initial call and left messages, because I was under the impression he was sick. Upon talking to him the next day, he seemed to be just fine. 

XX/XX/XXXX, Tuesday, XXXX XXXX. - Began receiving text messages from XXXX XXXX XXXX who stated he was General Manager of XXXX XXXX ( actually, the name of their company is XXXX, XXXX ). He asked several questions concerning my Loan, which I confirmed. We texted back and forth until he told me at XXXX XXXX that there was a hold on my Loan, because I would have to pay a " clearing fee '', because my credit score was not XXXX. Thus, I was told I had to pay another {$350.00}, which would be refunded once the Loan was done. At that point, I told XXXX XXXX if I had an additional {$350.00}, I would n't have to be borrowing from them. If I had paid that in addition to the previous {$430.00}, I would have paid them {$780.00} to receive that Loan! I told him that was predatory lending! I then told him to just refund the fees of {$430.00} I had already paid and to CANCEL THE LOAN TODAY ( XX/XX/XXXX )! My last statement of that text was that if they did n't return my fees, I would actually report them to CFPB and that I was hoping we could have worked things out. 

Later that day, XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX to speak with XXXX, the person I was told was XXXX XXXX 's Supervisor, because I thought XXXX was still out sick, but he was n't. When he finally answered the phone, he said " You 've been scammed, stop calling and bothering me '' and slammed the phone down! 

I waited about 10 minutes and called back asking to speak with XXXX. He answered and in talking to me told me that my Loan would be approved if I paid {$250.00} more, because my credit score was 4 points below what was needed. Of course, I told him I did not have it and reminded him that he had told me everything would be alright even though my score was a bit below what they required. I, also, told him what XXXX had said about my having been scammed. At first he said, no Miss, you have n't been scammed, but as our conversation went on, he got angry and said, if you think you 've been scammed, you have and do n't call back to talk to me again. 

On the first page of the Approval Notice submitted to me, there is a statement that says : As a company, we do not believe in any upfront in form of cash, credit or debit card. Only a guarantee is required from the customer which your loan officer would tell how to process. 

On the last page, under Terms and Conditions, it states that " this is a pre-approved long-term unsecured XXXX XXXX loan on lower interest rates offered only to selected applicants WITHOUT CONSIDERING THEIR PRESENT CREDIT SCORES.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation