Payday Loan Firm Faces Charges
Fast Cash loan service, a payday loan company with offices in Arcadia and Eagle Rock faces allegations of deceptive business practices and fraud. The complaint against the firm was filed by the California Attorney General’s Office recently. The complaint seeks nearly $2 million in civil penalties of which, $350,000 will be in restitution to former customers. The firm though is now defunct. According to the complaint, Fast Cash is alleged to have charged excessive and illegal penalties to customers who wrote bad checks to secure payday loans.
The firm threatened lawsuits, and tried to squeeze settlements. When none of these threats worked, the firm even deceived the court to win improper judgments against over 400 customers. California law allows a lender to collect a penalty when a customer bounces a check used to secure a payday loan. The penalty is equal to the amount of the check and has a $15 handling fee. Pasadenastarnews.com reports:
The complaint says Fast Cash demanded customers pay four times the amount of the bad check. Any customer who refused to pay was taken to small claims court. According to AG spokesman Aaron Carruthers, since a majority of the borrowers did not attend the hearings, and Fast Cash did not divulge the nature of its loans, the court generally ordered that the penalty be paid.
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