H.W.D. Financial

In September of 2009, due to some needed vehicle repairs, I was in search of a personal loan. I searched the web for companies that offered personal loans. I found many different companies that I could apply for a personal loan. After checking these companies out on the BBB, I decided to apply with a couple of them. The applications fell through. After a couple of days went by, I received an email from Cassandra ** , senior loan consultant at HWD Financial, stating that her company could provide me with the personal loan that I needed and if I was still interested, to call her at **. I was still in need of a personal loan so of course, I was still interested, but did not remember applying with the said company.

I then checked them out with the BBB and found them to have an A- rating, which at this current date, has fallen to an F. I did not respond to the email, but a day or two later, I got a voicemail message from Mrs. ** regarding the personal loan that I was looking for. I returned her call and needless to say, we played phone tag for a while. We were finally able to catch one another and she explained to me that one of their sister companies referred me to HWD because they dealt with customers who had slow, no or bad credit. She stated that she had gotten me approved for $5000 at a 7% interest rate payable within 4 years with monthly payments of $119.50 which was more than I needed but it sounded reasonable.

She told me that the only stipulation was that because it was an unsecured loan and my credit score was not high enough that I would have to purchase an insurance policy underwritten by Countrywide Insurance Group on the loan in the amount of $1240.00. She then stated that her manager was allowing her to reduce the premium by half which meant $620 was needed to be paid upfront. She also stated that the insurance premium would be refunded in whole after a 3-month probationary grace period with on time payments. I asked would this info be stated in my contract and she replied, "Yes." She then emailed on 9/17/09 an 11-page contract for me to review, sign and fax back. I printed and reviewed the contract which appeared to be legitimate.

I then called Cassandra for re-assurance of the whole process. She explained to me that I will need to sign and fax the signature pages back along with other verifying documents. She then expressed her understanding of my hesitation and said she would have her manager call me and that this was something that they do everyday for customers. I did not receive a call from her manager but I did receive an email from Jeremy ** reassuring my concerns. I faxed the necessary documents to Cassandra on 9/18/09. She called me to confirm that she received all the documents and stated the next step was to send via Western Union the insurance policy premium to Omar ** in Ontario, Canada and call back with the MTCN number so that they could confirm that I sent the payment and then the $5000 personal loan would be released into my account within 2-3 hours.

I sent $620 via Western Union on 10/4/09 as Cassandra requested and waited for the funds to show up in my account. After About 4 hours passed, I called Cassandra back and she stated something was wrong with the transaction in which Western Union did call me and confirm this same information. I was refunded my $678 ($620 for the premium and $58 for the Western Union fee). Cassandra called and told me that if I still needed the loan that I would have to send the funds to Janet ** in Ontario, Canada. I resent the insurance premium on 10/7/09 to Janet Law and confirmed again with the MTCN number with hopes of getting this much needed personal loan. I waited a couple of hours and the funds did not go into my account and I started to worry that I was being scammed.

I called Cassandra and she began to give me excuse after excuse as to why the funds were not transferred to my account yet. Then I received a phone call from Bryan ** (**), the customer service manager, who stated that there was a temporary hold on the transfer due to a $450 balance on the insurance premium. I stated to him that I cannot pay that and if I had money to just be paying out, I would not be trying to get a personal loan. He then told me he will see what he can work out and for me to call him back at ** in a couple of hours. I called Bryan ** back repeatedly with no answers from him. I then received a call from a bank in Jamaica that stated I was approved for a $10,000 personal loan and I immediately declined the offer. My initial instinct was seemingly true, I was being taken advantage of by HWD Financial and its so-called employees.

I was finally able to reach a male who said, when I asked his name,he was Jason ** but oddly enough he had the same accent as Bryan **. He told me he would research everything and call me back. On 10/14/09, Jason ** called me back from a cell phone in Canada (**, the same number that Bryan Smith had called from previously) and stated that he would check with Bryan to see what was going on and I told him, "At this point, I don't even want the loan anymore, I just want my money back." Jason told me to fax to him my receipt for the Western Union transaction and I would get a full refund of my insurance premium and the transfer fees within 1-6 weeks. I spoke with Patrick on 10/22/09 to confirm my refund and he told me I would get it in 1-4 weeks. I faxed the receipt on 10/26/09 to the attention of Patrick, Cassandra's assistant, Jason **, Bryan ** and Cassandra **.

After constantly calling and not being able to speak to anyone, I called on 11/06/09 at 2:05 pm and spoke with Patrick who told me that the refund had not been processed but he was going to do it while I was on the phone and that I should receive 2 money orders in 3-4 weeks; 1 for the insurance premium and 1 for the Western Union fees. On 12/17/09 at 4:58 pm, I called and spoke with Kevin ** who stated he needed to research my refund and for me to call him back in 1/2 hour. When I called back, he told me that I should have it by 12/23/09. On 12/22/09, I called again at 4:37pm and spoke with John ** who stated that he sees my information in the system but it is not processed and for me to call back once again. At 5:22 pm on 12/22/09, I called back and spoke to Bryan ** regarding my refund, who stated that they were closing and that I needed to call back in the morning to speak to the manager Rick **. I was never able to reach Rick **.

On 2/4/10 at 4:32 pm, I spoke initially to Bryan ** and by the end of the conversation, he was Bryan ** who stated that he needed to do some investigating and to call back on 2/5/10 around 1:30 or 2:00 pm. On 2/5/10 at 12:21, I called and spoke with Bryan ** who was very rude and yelling at me about repeatedly calling him and he eventually hung up on me. Needless to say, I have continuously and constantly called and left messages with HWD regarding my refund and continued to get excuse after excuse from everyone that I talk to, sometimes they just don't answer the phone or will not return calls. And of course it, has been over a year now and I still have yet to get my refund of $678.00.

My husband found a website for a US Consumer's Solutions and he talked to a Mary ** about a loan in the amount of $26,000. She stated that we were approved and she faxed a copy of the contract to us to read and sign. We followed through and she then contacted my husband and told him that we needed to send by Western Union $1500.00 to a Edward ** in Vancouver, British Columbia for insurance on the loan on November 18th 2009. She then called the next day and said that we needed to send another $685.00 for the loan to the same person and my husband did so on November 19th. We didn't hear back from her like she said we would in the1-5 hours after sending the money. We called and she gave us a number to a Mr. **.

I called him and asked about our money and about the loan and he told me that if we wanted out of loan, our money we sent would be returned including transfer fees. I kept calling him everyday and he kept giving me one excuse after another. On November 24th 2009, he gave me HWD Financial and said that he had spoken to Johnton ** and he gave them the information to refund my money.

I spoke to Mr. Johnton on November 24th about my refund of $2,368. He told me that he had spoken to Mr. ** and the money would be sent. I called everyday to find out about my money; Mr. ** kept saying that it was on its way. I received a call from a bank in Jamaica calling themselves the International Bank and I needed to send them $250.00 to get my money back. I told them that Mr. ** had turned it over to HWD, and that was who I was to go through. I have tapes of Mr. ** stating that my money was coming in the mail or by DHL.

I, to this day, have not seen my refund. I called them at HWD everyday to find out about my money and I received a call from HWD and a Mr. ** told me that I needed to send $250.00 to get my money; it was for taxes to be paid on the money. I told him he could not by law ask for that. I then contacted Mr. ** and again, he agreed with me that it was against the law to ask for that. I keep calling and they either won't answer or they hang up on me. All in all, I just want my money back like I said I have tapes of them stating that I am in their system and that they would be returning me my money. When calling them, they keep giving different names to throw people off. Mr. ** is also Mr. ** or whoever he wants to be that day.

All of these bogus loan companies are HWD Financial; how I know this is by contacting federal agencies who are tracking them down. They took our money under false pretence in the amount of $2,368.00. We want to get our money back and put these people where they belong - behind bars for fraud.

In August of 2009 I was contacted by Cassandra Reed of HWD Financial regarding a $5,000.00 Loan I was approved for. I had applied online for a personal loan for another financial institution and she stated she received the information from them and has approved me. She then stated that because it is unsecured and my credit is poor, I would have to pay to insure the loan prior to it being deposited into my bank account.

I have gotten a personal loan before and insurance is always involved, so I thought nothing of the fact that I had to pay it in advance, due to my poor credit history. I was to pay $610.00 and then within 24 hours, the loan would be deposited into my bank account. I was to send it via Money Order to Halifax, Nova Scotia and it would then guarantee insurance from Countrywide Insurance. I received loan documents that looked legit, so I had no worries.

After I had sent the 610.00, the following evening, I received a call from Cassandra stating that the 610.00 was a promotion for existing loan customers and not for new ones and I had to pay another 610.00 for insurance. She appologized profusely and when I started crying, she put me on hold and came back stating her boss said that I can pay 310 instead. I asked her if that is the last of it and she said "yes". I then sent 310.00 to the same location the next day. She stated that she called my bank to verify the account and would then transfer the funds in the morning.

The next day, I received a call from Brian with HWD stating that I now needed to pay taxes on the loan before I can get my money. He stated it would be another 350.00 and I needed to send it via Money Order to another person in Canada. I started crying because I did not have that money. After all, I was trying to get money, not spend it! He turned it around on me asking why I was being rude to him when he is just stating what he was told by his manager and has no control over it.

I then felt bad for getting upset with him (although in hindsight I shouldn't have). He said that he can drop it to 200.00 and that was all. My boyfriend was able to get the money from his Mom (we thought, all along, we would be getting all of this back and then some within 24-48 hours) and I sent it in.

THEN, I get a call from "International Bank" in Jamaica stating I now needed to pay the transfer fees as they are the ones transferring the money into my bank account and I need to pay the fees to them. They stated it was 375.00 for this. I told them flat out, I could not pay this. They then stated I could pay 250.00 instead. I desperately needed the loan at this point and they obviously knew that and preyed off of that. I payed the 250.00.

I waited for a few days and did not receive my money. I called Brian at HWD (Cassandra was not answering calls or returning them) and wanted to know what was going on. He said the Lender was stating I still needed to pay 250.00 for the taxes and he said that he has been in talks with them to get that waived but they were not budging.

After a few days of me calling him constantly, he finally said that he told the Lender to forget it and said he would cancel my loan and return my money within 1-10 business days. That was on a Friday. The following Tuesday, he called me stating he found another lender and they only loaned in increments of 4,000, 8,000, etc.

So I was approved for an 8,000.00 loan, but because of that, I needed to pay an additional $580.00 for insurance. I then told him that I do not have that money and reminded him we cancelled it the previous Friday and I just want my money back. He then said that the CEO was in the office that day and put him on the phone. The CEO tried getting me to agree to another $580.00 and I asked him to fax me a statement stating that after I pay $580.00 I will be guaranteed a loan of $8,000.00. He then did that.

However, by then I had finally wisened up and decided to not do the loan with them. I replied back to him stating that I expect a full refund of my money within 1-10 business days. That was back in September. It is now December 14th and I have yet to see my $1370.00 not to mention all the fees I payed to Western Union for the money transfers. HWD keeps giving me excuse after excuse as to why I have not gotten it and "guarantees" it is in the mail. I have a feeling I will never see my money again.

I am now in danger of forclosure of my home, I owe my family money that I cannot repay and am barely scraping by now. We cannot afford Christmas Presents for our 7 year-old and I just have an overall feeling of stupidity for falling for this scam in the first place.

If I had done the research before sending any money, I would have known this was a scam. I just want people out there to know that they should NEVER send money to anyone with the promise of a Loan or cash advance. That was my mistake and I feel like an idiot for faling for it.

On November 13, 2009 I was contacted by e-mail that my husband was approved for a $6000 loan we were looking to get. She said to call her at 877-333-9829 xt 104 and I did...we played phone tag for a few days. Finally, she got in touch with me and we discussed the terms of the loan but the catch was the $707 I had to pay for insurance on the loan (which we would get back after a three month probationary period id we didn't default) so I said okay. She told me to wire the money Western Union to a Samuel B. in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I wired the money and called back her assistant Patrick with the MTCN so they could release the funds to my bank account.

The next day (November 20, 2009) I received a call from Cassandra saying that she made a mistake with the insurance payment and can we pay an additional $500 or so...I said if I'm going to pay that then just lend me the $10,000 and I'll pay the difference for that which was $743. I wired the money Western Union to Samuel B., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I called Patrick with that number and he said that my money should be released within two to three hours. Cassandra even called me to say the funds have been released and for me to call he when the funds hit my bank.

Fast forward to Monday November 23, 2009, I get a call from a guy named Brian from their financial department who told me that the funds have not been released because I needed to pay $450 in taxes on the $10,000. I went off. I paid the bill western union to a guy named Dwayne W., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I was even sent a letter of guarantee from a woman named Donna M. guaranteeing the return of my money after the probationary period and the release of the funds immediately upon payment.

They have a website that looks legit and the loan papers even look like they are real but the whole thing is a fake...to date, still no money wired into my account as promised. We are out approximately, $1900. I am unable to pay my mortgage and other bills, my bank accounts are overdrawn and I don't know how I'm going to catch up. I was depending on this loan. My husband is off on workers compensation.