Too good to be true?

[Scott T. Jensen]

I'm looking at getting a good multiplier on stock I own for a business I
want to start and even a charity I want to found. I received the following
spam from Hedgelender (www.hedgelender.com):

"Greetings,

We are the leaders for stock loans. What we can offer:

* Up to 90% Loan to Value on your stock or bonds
* No Payments or Quarterly payment
* Rates starting at 4%
* Major exchanges around the world

*if you are interested in becoming an agent please call to find out if your
territory still has some openings.

/VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION/

Best Regards,

Danielle Stafford

1.800.244.7616

WWW.HEDGELENDER.COM <http://www.hedgelender.com/starter.htm> "

Anyone hear of this company? Their website looks fine, but I've never heard
of them before. How do I check them out to make sure they're legit?

Scott Jensen

[Scott T. Jensen]

1) I gave a call to my local credit union, which doesn't give loans to
businesses or non-profits. A bank officer there talked to me and said he
used to work as a business loan officer for a local bank. He said when he
worked at that bank they would only give 50% loan on stocks (in other words,
they'd give a loan of $50,000 for $100,000 in stock as collateral for that
loan) due to stocks fluctuating in price. If I were to have it in cash and
in a long-term CD at their bank, they would give 100% loan (i.e., $100,000
CD gets a $100,000 loan). However, he said he worked at a traditional bank
... but, even given that, he's never heard of any lending institution giving
ten times the value of an asset for a loan. But he did say things might
have changed since he left commercial banking. He recommended I call the
Attorney General of Virginia to find out if they have anything on the
company. The company's website said they're located there.

2) I call the Virginia Attorney General and got passed around from the
agency that over sees lending to the one that oversees stocks to back to the
lending to records. No one had answer. Virginia has very loose regulation
of lending institutions. However, the person down in Records checked to see
if they're at least registered with their state. They're not. She said
that to her would be a major red flag, but that's about all she could say.
She then gave me the number to the Federal Trade Commission and suggested I
talk to them.

3) Federal Trade Commission had nothing on the company and wondered why
someone referred me to them. He suggested I contact the federal SEC, my
state's SEC, and SBA.

4) The federal SEC didn't have anything on them and since the company didn't
trade or sell stocks, they said they wouldn't regulate them.

5) My state SEC was more helpful. She learned that they're actually
registered in Delware but that was about it. She will check with people
that have taken off from the office early today (Friday) on Monday and see
if they know of anything.

6) I left a message on my state's SBA's telephone number about this issue
and asked for a call back with anything they know of this company.

7) I left a message on Delware's Attorney General's Consumer Protection
Division and asked for a call back with anything they know of this company.

That's it so far. Any other suggestions?

Scott Jensen

[John A. Weeks III]

Post by Scott T. Jensen
That's it so far. Any other suggestions?

Rather than spending all your valuable time on this,
how about just taking a $1000 flyer on them and see
what happens? Even if you lose all $1000, that is less
than the value of a days worth of work.

-john-

[Scott T. Jensen]

Post by John A. Weeks III

Post by Scott T. Jensen
That's it so far. Any other suggestions?

Rather than spending all your valuable time on this,
how about just taking a $1000 flyer on them and see
what happens? Even if you lose all $1000, that is
less than the value of a days worth of work.

All that effort took me, in total, maybe a half hour spread over a day while
I did other work. ;-)

And I still would like to know any other ways of checking them out. I called
the Better Business Bureau and they said the company is in "good" standing with
them. That just means they've been in business for more than a year, are
registered with BBB, and have had no complaints made against them.

Scott Jensen

[Robert Anderson]

Post by Scott T. Jensen
And I still would like to know any other ways of checking them out. I called
the Better Business Bureau and they said the company is in "good" standing with
them. That just means they've been in business for more than a year, are
registered with BBB, and have had no complaints made against them.

That and a $1.25 will get you a cup of coffee.

[Robert Anderson]

Post by Scott T. Jensen
I'm looking at getting a good multiplier on stock I own for a business I
want to start and even a charity I want to found. I received the following

Are you a member of their mailing list or was this unsolicited?

If it is really spam, then I would say that very few legitimate companies
send out spam so I would be very careful about doing business with them.
Also, keep in mind that if you respond you are encouraging spam as you would
be communicating to them that it works. You definitely do not want to
encourage spam.

Permission-based email marketing is legitimate marketing; spam is not
legitimate.