GeteCash of UT Ordered to Cease and Desist
Internet Payday Loan Activities in Idaho
Boise, Idaho, May 12, 2010
The Idaho Department of Finance alleged that “GeteCash,” a Utah-based payday lender, was making payday loans in Idaho without a license and unlawfully garnishing the wages of payday loan debtors. The company was ordered to stop the alleged activity.
Despite notifications that it must be licensed to make payday loans in Idaho, Department of Finance Director Gavin Gee said GeteCash continued advertising on its Web site that Idaho was within its “service areas” for making payday loans. “That’s simply false,” said Gee. “Idaho has never been within the ‘service area’ of GeteCash because GeteCash never applied for, and has never been issued, a license to make payday loans in Idaho.”
GeteCash was sued in April by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), based in part on information provided to the FTC by the Department of Finance. Gee said the Department of Finance frequently coordinates with other law enforcement agencies, and that the FTC’s lawsuit alleges GeteCash illegally garnished the wages of payday loan debtors without an appropriate court order – a practice the department’s cease-and-desist order alleges GeteCash has used in Idaho.
The 2009 Idaho Legislature amended Idaho’s payday lending laws to establish that payday loans made in Idaho by unlicensed payday lenders, including Internet payday lenders, are void, uncollectible and unenforceable. Gee said the 2009 change stemmed largely from an onslaught of payday lenders targeting prospective borrowers over the Internet and ignoring state licensing and consumer protection laws.
The department’s investigation of unlicensed payday lending in Idaho is continuing and Gee encouraged Idahoans who may have taken out a payday loan over the Internet from GeteCash or from any other unlicensed payday lender to contact the Idaho Department of Finance at (208) 332-8000 or Idaho toll-free at 1-888-346-3378.
BBB REPORT here for this company:
http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/payday-loan-companies/getecash-in-orem-ut-22238868
