Consumer Alert
$505 million in refunds sent to payday loan customers
If you took out an online payday loan from a company affiliated with AMG Services, you may be getting a check in the mail from the FTC. The $505 million the FTC is returning to consumers makes this the largest refund program the agency has ever administered.
The FTC sued AMG and Scott A. Tucker for deceptive payday lending. When consumers took out loans, AMG said they would charge a one-time finance fee. Instead, AMG made multiple illegal withdrawals from peoples’ bank accounts and charged hidden fees. As a result, people paid far more for the loans than they had agreed to.
In 2016 the FTC won a court case against AMG and Scott Tucker. Then in 2017, a jury convicted Tucker and his attorney of crimes related to the lending scheme. The FTC and Department of Justice are using money obtained in both court actions to give refunds to consumers.
Here are answers to questions about AMG refunds.
Who will get a refund? Checks are being sent to consumers who took out loans between January 2008 and January 2013 from these AMG-related companies: 500FastCash, Advantage Cash Services, Ameriloan, OneClickCash, Star Cash Processing, UnitedCashLoans, and USFastCash.
How many people will get refunds? More than 1.1 million people will get refunds.
How does the FTC know who to send the checks to? The FTC and a refund administrator have used AMG’s business records to identify eligible consumers and calculate their refunds.
I’m eligible for a refund. What do I need to do? If you borrowed from one of the lenders listed above between January 2008 and January 2013, you don’t need to do anything. The checks are being mailed to eligible consumers automatically. There is no application process. If you borrowed from one of those lenders before January 2008, please call 1-866-730-8147.
How can I get more information? Visit the FTC’s AMG refund page or call 1-866-730-8147.
Three tips from the FTC:
- If you get a check, deposit or cash it within 60 days.
- The FTC never asks people to pay money or give information to cash refund checks. If someone asks you to pay to get a refund from the FTC, it’s a scam.
- The FTC has advice if you’re thinking about a payday loan or an online payday loan.
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In reply to I received mine for $32.14. by KimM
Checks are being sent to consumers who took out loans between January 2008 and January 2013 from these AMG-related companies: 500FastCash, Advantage Cash Services, Ameriloan, OneClickCash, Star Cash Processing, UnitedCashLoans, and USFastCash.
These refunds are not related to the business you named.
In reply to @ Bridget Small, by tryingagain
The amount of your check is based on the amount you lost because of illegally charged fees on the loans you took before January 2013 with a company affiliated with AMG Services, Inc. Each person will get a refund for a percentage of the money they lost in illegally charged fees.
In reply to I deposited to my wells by NR
In reply to I deposited to my wells by NR
In reply to I deposited to my wells by NR
In reply to This doesn’t sound truthful. by WT
In reply to My bank is not allowing me to by jenewhi
If you have trouble cashing or depositing the check, please call the company the FTC hired to manage the refund process. That is Rust Consulting, at 1-866-730-8147.
In reply to why are some people getting by dpabon
In reply to My bank refuses to cash the by Kelly Jo
In reply to My bank refuses to cash the by Kelly Jo
In reply to why are some people getting by dpabon
The partial refund amounts were calculated based on the amount of money a person lost from illegally charged fees on loans they took before January 2013 with a company affiliated with AMG Services. Each person's refund is a percent of the amount they lost.
In reply to why wont that bridge person by clg
I don't have a list of all the people who received refunds. You should call the company that is managing the refunds if you want to talk about your refund. Their number is in the blog post right above these comments: 1-866-730-8147.
Everyone who gets a refund is getting less than the total amount they paid to AMG Services, Inc. when it illegally charged them undisclosed and inflated fees. The FTC has sent out $505 million dollars to more than 1,179,000 people. The FTC sent out all the money that is available.
In reply to How is it determined that by Gentlesoul7
The FTC tried to combine information about accounts so it could send one check to each person. But sometimes it wasn't clear whether information was about one person or two people. When information was not clear, we did not combine it. For example, we did not combine accounts that had a maiden name and a married name, or accounts that had one name but two addresses. When we saw that, we sent separate checks.
In reply to I deposited the check and my by cynthia