Payment Guard

henryhull72

HI, I would like to make people aware of this company as my partner and myself have had on going dealings with them for around 2 and a half years.
To put it bluntly they are thieves. 2 and a half years ago we both moved house, which was basically a shell. The overtime dried up at work so we reluctantly decided to get a loan. We used 'Welcome Finance' who at the time advertised that they where the loan company but were in fact brokers, who said they would find us a loan for a fee. My partner was not happy with this but felt pressured on the phone along with the need for the money. She paid their fee and low and behold they could not find her a loan....they said they would not give the fee back as they were still looking for the loan, it has been 2 and a half years and they still have not got back to her.
They also told her she had to take out insurance on 'this loan' and we noticed £10 per month going out to PAYMENT GUARD. We cancelled this payment as we didn't see the point in paying insurance on a loan we didn't have, fair enough??
After the payment was cancelled a few months later the payments started to go out again to the tune of £40 (4 months) so again we went to our bank (Alliance and Leicester) cancelled the payment, told the staff and then they got our money back.
We thought this was the end, but no.
Around 9 - 12 months later I noticed on our account a £10 per month payment going out to PAYMENT GUARD but this time it wasn't a Direct Debit but a card payment and the way it shows on the statement is quiet misleading, it just shows as a normal card payment but the was it is worded makes it blend in with all the other card payments, very easy to miss.
We then contacted our bank again and they where brilliant, Alliance and Leicester were straight on the job getting all of the payments back off them.
We then thought this would be the end, but no!!!
I have gone through our statement again today (AUG 2010) and found these £10 card payments going out right from Dec'09 to the tune of £80.
WE HAVE NOT MADE THESE PAYMENTS AND DO NOT WANT INSURANCE FROM THEM THEY ARE CROOKS BUT IT SEEMS WHENEVER WE TAKE BACK OUR MONEY FOR SOMETHING WE DID NOT WANT IN THE FIRST PLACE, ON A LOAN WE STILL NOT DO NOT HAVE THEY JUST TAKE THE MONEY FROM OUR BANK AGAIN AND AGAIN.
I would like to know if anyone else has had this experience with them as now I believe it is time to involve the police, surely this is theft and must be a form of card scamming.
THE CHEEK OF IT.......I AM FUMING

sophiecayo

My 17 year old has had a similar experience. He has had 3 separate lots of money taken from his account by Payment Guard, LoanFinder and Credit Extra. Aside from the fact that it is unlawful for a 17 year old to have credit, my son has never had any contact with any of these companies and has not attempted to get credit.

A little research through the financial services authority and companies house shows that these 3 companies are the same company trading under diffierent names. The managing director is Mourad Malik.

I have contacted the police who said that because the bank refunded the money to my son he is no longer considered the victim. The bank is the victim and they must report the crime. They also told me that identity theft is not a crime!!!

I intend to write to the Financial Services Authority and report these companies and would recommend anyone else does the same

henryhull72

Thank you for the reply Sophie, I find it unbelievable that a company can blatantly flout the law in the way they conduct 'business'. I am going to contact the police as I have not got my money back off the bank. I am so shocked that they have done this again after the bank supposedly stopped it. I am confident that Alliance and Leicester will get me the money back but that isn't the point.
I am going to write to the BBC's Watchdog programme as well along with the FSA.
These people need stopping and I hope that this thread will gather steam as surely they must be doing this to others.
I would like to thank you for the information you provided as it gives me a starting point to dig further