Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

You are right for the most part...Pay day loans are not authorized in NC. This sounds like a cash grab. First thing that you need to do is check and see if $390.00 was ever put into your account. If it was, then your account is not safe because they have the means to access your account. I doubt this happened because if they had access to your account, they would have already started taking money out.

Here is what you need to do to be sure you are protected.

1. Get their address and send them a letter to back off and that you ill sue them for unfair debt collection if they continue to call you, try to take money from you, report this on your credit report, or take any other action.

2. Keep checking your credit reports...you can do this once a year for free at www.annualcreditreport.com. If you see it on your credit reprot, you need to dispute it.

3. Finally, I would recommend that you close your account open a new one...even at the same bank, but this way you ensure they can't get to your bank account.

I agree with Mr. Love. I wanted to add that this sounds like a common scam. If you never actually received money from a payday loan, you may have applied for one online, and then decided not go go through with it. Then, your information was sold to a scam company. These calls can be scary because they have a lot of your personal information already - since you put it on a loan application.

Any legitimate debt collector will send you something in writing before they insist on getting payment. Never give your banking information over the phone because of threats. No bill collector except for the government can intercept your tax return before it is deposited into your bank account. Very few bill collectors can garnish your wages in North Carolina.

I agree with my colleagues. Regardless of whether this is a scam. even if you had the money, the lender CANNOT garnish wages or intercept tax refunds. In order to freeze your bank account, this lender would first have to get a judgment against you. Payday lenders do not typically sue because the loans are illegal.

If Attorney Coleman is correct and you did maybe apply for a payday loan and the lender has your bank account information, then you should close your account. If you never applied, then it could be that either you have the same or a similar name as someone who did OR else this is just an out and out scam.

I would add that writing is useless if the payday lender is overseas because they do not have a valid US address (if they do have a US address you need to check and make sure it is not a post office or postal mail box at a UPS or similar store). Also, if it is a loan through an Native American Indian tribe, they may not necessarily adhere to US-law like the fair debt collections practices act.

However, you may want to contact the NC attorney general.