{"id":568,"date":"2022-01-08T15:05:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T15:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herefordshirecab.org.uk\/?page_id=568"},"modified":"2022-01-08T15:05:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T15:05:36","slug":"what-is-loan-fee-fraud","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/citizensadviceworcester.org.uk\/index.php\/what-is-loan-fee-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"What is loan fee fraud?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We asked the Financial Conduct Authority to explain<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/miro.medium.com\/max\/1400\/1%2ACIIvP-gtjABCYPZ40SOmLg.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"f250\">In 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority recorded a 32% increase in reports of loan fee fraud to their contact centre per month during the festive period. Within the last year victims have reported an average loss of \u00a3274 per fraud. However, during the festive period this increased to an average of \u00a3355 as people increased spending to buy presents and celebrate with friends and family, making them more likely to seek credit from loan providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"4be0\"><strong>But what is loan fee fraud?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"655d\">A loan fee scam happens when you\u2019re asked to pay an upfront fee for a loan which you will never receive. The lender may ask you to pay for the loan in an unusual way, such as iTunes vouchers. It also happens to people who find it more difficult to get mainstream loans. Loan fee fraud happens especially at Christmas when you\u2019re pressured to spend more than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"a6c0\">We\u2019ve teamed up with the FCA to raise awareness about these scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0cf3\">What are the signs of a loan fee scam?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"9937\">There are several signs that might mean a scam:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You\u2019ve been contacted out of the blue by text, email or phone and offered a loan<\/li><li>You\u2019ve been asked to pay an upfront fee for a loan in an unusual way \u2014 Western Union, iTunes vouchers or directly into a bank account<\/li><li>You\u2019ve been told the fee is refundable and will be used a deposit, administrative fee or because you\u2019ve got bad credit history<\/li><li>You\u2019re pressured to pay the loan quickly<\/li><li>You\u2019re asked to make more payments before receiving the loan<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"be2c\"><strong>Ultimately, you never receive the loan.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5315\">What should I do if I\u2019ve been scammed?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"1fb3\">If you\u2019re looking for a loan and are approached by someone offering one, before you do anything check the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/register.fca.org.uk\/s\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FCA\u2019s website<\/a>&nbsp;to see if they are a registered company and what they are regulated to do. If someone is asking you to pay upfront for a loan \u2014 it\u2019s likely a scam and you should seek a loan from elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"f10e\">If you are scammed, our #ScamsAction service can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"3121\">The Financial Conduct Authority is the conduct regulator for 51,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK. In addition, they provide advice to consumers on a wide range of financial scams and provide complaint services. You can check if a financial organisation is registered with the FCA&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fca.org.uk\/firms\/financial-services-register\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"fec5\">The Citizens Advice Scams Action service provides free, impartial and confidential advice on scams. As well as advice on the scams themselves, we can also help you with other issues such as debt or housing.\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensadvice.org.uk\/consumer\/scams\/get-help-with-online-scams\/\" target=\"_blank\">Read more about the service<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Article by <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@emily.nix?source=post_page-----70b72eaf1241-----------------------------------\">Emily Nix<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wearecitizensadvice.org.uk\/what-is-loan-fee-fraud-70b72eaf1241\">https:\/\/wearecitizensadvice.org.uk\/what-is-loan-fee-fraud-70b72eaf1241<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We asked the Financial Conduct Authority to explain In 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority recorded a 32% increase in reports of loan fee fraud to their contact centre per month during the festive period. Within the last year victims have reported an average loss of \u00a3274 per fraud. However, during the festive period this increased [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-568","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensadviceworcester.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensadviceworcester.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensadviceworcester.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensadviceworcester.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensadviceworcester.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citizensadviceworcester.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensadviceworcester.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}