Hillcroft Financial Lending - Loan Scam Alert

We've received a new wave of loan scam reports over the weekend. Hillcroft Financial Lending is an active loan scam:

I am emailing you because I am working with this company called Hillcroft Financial Lending. The financial advisor says I am approved for $5,000 for 3 years on 8.5% fixed rate, but I have to send 3 months of my payment in advance of $690.00. I'm not sure If this is a scam or not, can you please help me identify if the loan offer is legitimate? This is the website where I applied for the loan: hillcroftfinanciallending.com

This is definitely a loan scam. Never wire transfer money for this sort of loan, you will not receive your loan and will not be able to recover your funds.

According to whois.net their site was only created in mid-March 2009.

This is a scam. I was approved for a $10,000 loan at 8.5% for 5 years with a $500 deposit. They told me once I paid on time for 4 months, the $500 would be refunded. Once I sent the deposit, I found out that there is no loan. DO NOT SEND THEM MONEY. I reported them to the Better Business Bureau, RipoffReports.com, Western Union Fraud Unit, www.fraud.org, and the Texas Attorney Generals office. Hopefully they will be put out of business. They have now changed their website to STATE CREDIT UNION. They are one and the same.

Yes, I was also told by a Stacy
Waters that I was approved for a @100k loan with a 950 down pymt. I don't think so. I am not sending any money. never never never.
The word is getting out because she is not calling me anymore!

****DO NOT SEND MONEY*****

I ALMOST was a victim to this scam. They are now going by State Credit Union. I remember seeing their site as Hillcroft at first. I entered in my name and employment info - but I dont believe I entered in anything more than that.
I actually did fax my paystub and picture of my driver's license to a so called "Christine Bentley". It sounded almost too goo to be true - a $15,000 loan based on your income and NOT your credit rating.

Does anyone know if I should be nervous that they have my information? I did not send them the $635 that they asked for. They also do not have my banking info or my SS#.

I'd probably be a little worried for the fact that it's your drivers license and your pay check stub. I know that many pay stubs also include your social security number so might be a good idea to place a fraud alert on file with the bureaus or even sign up with a monitoring service to keep an eye on it just to be safe. In cases like these it's better to be safe than sorry. You can read more about these options here: Identity Theft Emergency

Thanks for the info. They definitely do not have my SS#; it's not on my paystubs.

Anyway, they are still trying to get me. I received a follow-up email today from a Jennifer Zeni, but it was signed by Amy White. There were no links in the email, and actually, their business hours were mis-typed.
*********************************
STATE CREDIT UNION

You are Pre-Approved!

This is the final letter to inform you that your application you submitted has been assigned to one of our financial consultants. They have carefully reviewed your file and it's with great pleasure to let you know that you have been approved for the loan. Based on the information that in our data base you are pre-approved based on your monthly income and not your credit.

I would like to hear from you as soon as possible so that I may process your application and discuss further details about your loan.
toll free at 1-888-417.5666 ext89

Sincerely,
Amy White
Financial Advisor

In order to get your loan process started you will have to contact me by phone to verify the information submitted in our database at 1.888.417.5666 x 89

Business Hours
Mon - Fri: 10am - PM EST.
Sat: 11am - PM EST.
Sun: OFF

email: jenniferzeni@consultant.com

Jennifer Zeni, Senior Loan consultant
*********************************
First email I received:

*********************************

STATE CREDIT UNION

You are Pre-Approved!

Loan Payment Calculation
Amount Borrowed 15,000.00
Annual Interest Rate 5.5%
Number of Payments per Year 12
Amortization Period in Months
Payment Amount 235.40
Amortization Period in Months 76
Principal 15,000.00
Interest Paid 2,780.01
Total Repaid 17,780.01

On behalf of State Credit Union we are glad to inform you of your loan approval. I am the Senior Loan consultant here at State Credit Union.

My name is Christine Bentley and I am pleased to inform you that your recent request for a loan is in an approval pending status. we have searched the top 5 lending instutions and fortunatley State Credit Union will be funding the loan amount you have requested.

In order to get your loan process started you will have to contact me by phone to verify the information submitted in our database at 1.888.417.5666 x 82

Business Hours
Mon - Fri: 10am - 7pm est.
Sat: 11am - 7pm est.
Sun: OFF

http://www.hillcroftlendinggroup.com/
email:cbentley@consultant.com

Christine Bentley, Senior Loan consultant
***********************************

Hillcroft states they are acting in your best interest; not so. The only person who stands to gain is Hillcroft.
I submitted a request with very limited information for $65,000. They called within two days to advise of approvals.
What irritated me to no end was the woman on the phone; non stop talking, unable to ask questions, and listening to a potential customers was non existant.
Thus when she said I needed to send $2000 as a retainer till they were confident in my ability to pay, the third red flag went up.
They sent me a package via e mail that stated, this is a 20 year loan (forth flag) at 7%. When you do the numbers, for a $65,000 loan, the payback is $120,000.......that was the final flag.
My reply was simple, NO....I needed the money but I'm not desperate or stupid.
Anytime a company ask's for money, beware. First place to go before you ever consider a loan or home business is Google.com and type in the name and wait.......90% of the time, it's a scam.
There are legitimate companies out there somewhere, just be careful.

Well after being a VICTIM of LOAN SCAM before, I'm glad I came here and checked out to see if Hillcroft Financial was legit and I see that they are not. I tried looking them up on the Better Business Bureau website with nothing coming back so did a GOOGLE search and seen that this was another SCAM to take away from hard working consumers. Is there any LEGITMATE websites or otherwise that we can find that will offer PERSONAL LOANS regardless of credit and where there is NO FEES UP FRONT? Don't want to go through PAYDAY LOANS because that in itself is a VICIOUS CYCLE but does help in the short term. Please help. Thanks.....

Hi Big - Credit.com parnters with legitimate lenders to offer loans to consumer with poor credit. Unfortunately, it's not a guarantee though, as lenders will only go so low on their minimum scoring requirements. This means if your scores are extremely poor (in the 400-500's for example), it's probably going to be very difficult to find a legitimate lender to approve the loan until you can improve your credit a little. One things certain, a legitimate lender would never ask you to wire a down payment deposit before granting the loan. This should be a huge RED FLAG when a lender does this so make sure you do your research on the company.