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Microfinancial/Leasecomm
Record Fine/Judgment Under
the terms of the settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Leasecomm
will stop collection efforts on all outstanding judgments, totaling
$24 million, involving the financing of the software and equipment for
processing credit-card transactions. The company also agreed to stop
financing those kinds of business opportunities in the future. Leasecomm
will also pay a $1 million fine to be split by the states of Massachusetts,
Florida, Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, North Dakota and Texas. The
district attorney for Ventura County, Calif. will also receive a portion
of that fine. The
company was looking for a financial partner, and there is the question regarding
the selling of $500,000 stock by
an executive officer before the stock took a nose dive.
The company was also recently “re-listed” on the exchange. In
the last four years, the company with the most complaints from “end-users,” the
lessees ( who by the way call themselves “consumers,” even though they
may be business owners or corporate officers) has been Leasecomm. There
were several websites put together by disgruntled customers, such
as the one by Lauren Stephens called www.leaseconn.com. A
California user actually got the ear of the Ventura County District
attorney. She
was one of the jubilant ones who sent Leasing News an e-mail: “We
communicated some weeks ago about my continuing difficulties w/Leasecomm. “By
now, I'm assuming you've gotten the news about the FTC ruling
against them and their unconscionable practices. As a result of my efforts to expose the unfair collections
practices of this company, the DA's office in Ventura County has been working
with me to resolve these issues, along w/cooperation from the AG's
office in MA. “My story will appear in tomorrow's edition
of the Ventura County Star.” Sincerely, Karen Brace Leasecomm
victim kbrace@sprintmail.com for Friday’s edition, please go here: http://www.insidevc.com./vcs/business/article/0,1375,VCS_128_1999289,00.html |
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