Many people save for years to invest in a car, but in Massachusetts some got both their money and car stolen because of an online loan.
General Maura Healey, an attorney on this case, investigated the details of these loans to determine how big of a scam these consumers were paying into. With GPS tracking devices in their cars, they had no way to avoid this deceptive company’s practices.
Today, the company is known by the names of Liquidation LLC, Sovereign Lending Solutions, and Auto Loans. These are only some of the numerous names they use, Healey says the purpose is to, “target vulnerable people by offering them short term online loans secured with the title to their cars.” Within these contracts many of the harmful details were hidden, such as a 247% interest rate for a $1,500 loan.
The company would put GPS tracking devices to secure the loans, create loans designed to fail then, plan to repossess the vehicles and auction them to earn more profits .
A Suffolk County Superior Court Judge is taking action by, wiping out all of their victim’s loans. However, recovering the money will be a challenge because the company is based in the Cook Islands of New Zealand. Until then, as reporter Karen Anderson from 5 Investigates says,“the attorney general’s office has notified affected consumers about the preliminary injunction, to inform them they now have a right to stop making payments on these unlawful loans.”