Scammed for $1250

I had discussed with a friend of mine on my need for financing for my business, and he told me he had recently gotten an unsolicited fax from the company Nationwide Commercial Lending & Equity. I gave the company a call and got their voice mail (red flag 1- It is a strange thing for a business not to answer calls persistently during business hours).

About 20mins after my voice message, Kellon Sanders calls me to discuss with me financing. Apparently, Kellon is the President of the organization. We talked a little bit and he sounded pretty convincing. He even went to encourage me that I shouldn't have a problem with getting financing. He forwarded me the application which I filled out accurately and honestly. My issue was my credit. It had bee damaged, however I had the income to get financing.

Upon turning back the application, I got an email response saying I was approved. As part of their stipulated contract the loan was to be funded in 7 business days. I was to send in a check for $1250 which was the "underwriting fee" and they claimed it is a refundable amount. If the loan was not funded from their cash sources within 7 days, they will refund my money.

Also on the contract was a 1.5% closing cost of the loan amount which I tried negotiating down to 1%. Of course this didn't matter because Kellon Sanders knew we will never get to that point. I sent the check to a Houston address "1301 Leeland St, Houston, TX 77002" with attention to a "Deborah Freedman".  All of this was part of the scam. I later contacted Mr. Sanders to check if they had gotten the check and he confirmed receipt. All this while there had been frequent communication between myself and Kellon. When it was getting to day 5 and I had not heard anything from him I asked what was going on with the financing, and he said he was working on it (I guess he was really waiting to make sure my check cleared). 

Folks once it was sure my check cleared, that was the last I heard from Kellon. I have sent numerous emails and made numerous phone calls, but there has been no response from him. I have reported to the financial trade commission http://www.ftc.gov/ and to the fbi financial fraud division http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams . I suggest you do the same also. I even called the bank through which they cleared the check, but I don't think the bank did anything about it.

Here's Kellon Sanders facebook page http://www.facebook.com/people/Kellon-Sanders/79101788


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