Two fraudulent online payday lending operations based in the Kansas City area have been temporarily shut down after being sued by federal authorities, Collections & Credit Risk reported today. Combined, the two schemes allegedly bilked at least $36 million, and likely substantially more, from consumers nationwide, officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission said yesterday. In both cases, the companies are accused of using sensitive personal information that they purchased about individual consumers to access their bank accounts, deposit $200 to $300 in payday loans, and make withdrawals of up to $90 every other week, despite the fact that many of the consumers never agreed to take out a payday loan. The firms are also accused of generating phony loan documents after the fact to make it appear that the loans were legitimate.
