American Credit Service

American Credit Service is a non-existent company that appears to be connected to a potentially criminal scam involving payday loans. There is no Web site for American Credit Service, though an American Credit Services is based in Rochester, N.Y.

“American Credit Service” appears to be preying on individuals who have applied for payday loans or were used as a reference by someone applying for that type of loan in the past. The individuals then receive phone calls from individuals claiming that the applicant has defaulted on the loan and has not paid it back, then begins threatening the individual if they do not agree to immediately pay an amount mentioned.

The caller from American Credit Service appears to start the threats with claiming to have the ability to destroy the consumer’s credit if they do not pay up immediately. If that does not work, then they will threaten to have them immediately arrested for failure to pay back the loan. If the consumer hangs up, the caller—who frequently has an Indian or Middle Eastern accent, but a western name—will call back several times.

Information from multiple Internet sources indicate the threatening caller has the correct name, address and Social Security number of the person they are calling. It also appears that they are preying specifically on individuals who applied for payday loans, though there has been no indication of which payday loan company has provided the information to the callers.

If a caller who identifies themselves as being from American Credit Service calls you, there are a number of steps you can take. First, do not accept any demand to pay money immediately; it appears very likely this will do nothing but expose you to a loss of money and more credit information. The best option would be to inform the Federal Trade Commission and the office of your state’s attorney general. Both the FTC and the attorney general’s office have specific programs designed to cut down on telephone and Internet fraud, and will take your report and begin to build a case against the callers if they are indeed acting outside the law.

Logan said:

I have vehicle that has been paid for in full for many years. titled and registered in my home state of TN. The title was lost and now that I try to get a copy of the title Iam told that American Credit Service in Rochester NY has a hold on it. I do nikt owe any money on the car and want to know how to deal with this fraudulent company.