Horne: Scottsdale Company Barred From Soliciting Loan Services to Arizona Consumers

PHOENIX (Monday, July 30, 2012) -- Attorney General Tom Horne announced today that his office has reached an agreement with a Scottsdale-based company in which they will stop soliciting loan services to Arizona consumers. 

The company, Double C’s, LLC, doing business as Lowrate.com, has agreed to an Assurance of Discontinuance stemming from its operation of the Lowrate.com website that solicited consumers, including Arizona consumers, for loans. 

Double C’s did not make payday loans to Arizona consumers but used its Lowrate.com website to solicit them for such loans, requesting that consumers provide personal information, including the consumer’s name, address, driver’s license number, social security number, and bank account and routing numbers on a loan application on the Lowrate.com web site, while representing that Lowrate.com would protect the consumer’s information from unauthorized use. Consumers’ personal information was transmitted to a third party who operates a “lead marketplace” where various payday lenders or other lead buyers could purchase the information for the purpose of lending the consumer money in the form of a payday loan. 

Under the Assurance, Double C’s agrees to:

  • Comply with the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act
  • Not solicit, collect, sell or transmit any consumer’s personal information without disclosing to the consumer that it will not control how or to whom the information is used
  • Not solicit, collect, sell or transmit any Arizona consumer’s information in connection with an application for any type of consumer loan, including payday loans

This case was handled by Assistant Attorney Cherie Howe. 

If you feel you’ve been a victim of any type of consumer fraud, please contact the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Consumer Information & Complaints Unit at (602) 542-5763 / (520) 628-6504 / (800) 352-8431.