Loan scam reappears
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by Charles Young
• A Kent couple who fear they have been conned out of the £500 they put down on a loan to buy their first truck have taken their plight to the BBC consumer programme Watchdog.
Eula Payne and Martin Seager of Chatham, Kent have seen just £200 of the ,E10,000 loan they applied finfrom a man called John Smith, based in Falkirk, who claims to offer unsecured loans in exchange for a deposit.
CM has been warning readers about this man since April. He also appears to be operating as John Miller. Payne says the couple, who have six children, are now on the breadline as they are paying back £30 a week on the £500, which was also borrowed.
The couple applied for the loan last May: following a series of phone calls they received just -C200 in July. Payne can no longer contact Smith as he has changed his phone number. "This has gone well out of control," she says. "I am also still awaiting information from Watchdog."
Smith was unavailable for comment when CM tried to contact him.
In April 1998 Danny Brown, of Geotechnical Engineering in Coatbridge, wanted finance of
£ 250,000 and applied to get a non-status loan through an advert. He was told by a John Smith that he would have to pay a 10% deposit and £500 in advance.
Later that same month an Essex haulier was conned out of £1,000 by a Falkirkbased company. The haulier paid out a £ 1,000 deposit to a John Miller to secure a £10,000 business development loan.