Lease Finance Group

Disclaimer: This is my story and how I’ve dealt with lawsuit from Lease Finance Group LLC (LFG on wards). I’m still in the middle of the suit and therefore no action has been made. I’ll keep you guys abreast of further development but, until then, my case is just “Active.” By no means should anyone emulates my case to supplement your own nor am I advocating that you should do so.

My unfortunate entanglement with LFG started when I rented a machine from LFG with Payment Systems (under LFG recommendation) as the processor. They gave me all this grand numbers with how they would save money and even more so if I signed a long term lease with them. Being naïve at that time and trusted that such questionable business would be out of business, I went ahead and signed with them. At first everything was as stated. Then on the third month, PS started sneaking in undue charges in which they masked as “OTHER ITEMS FEE”.

I've tried to contact PS twice to resolve such fraudulent charges but nothing happens, even with promises that things would change. I then canceled PS and send back LFG machine. I did so because, after looking up LFG reputation using the Revdex.com website, I’ve found out that it's a business with questionable practices. After a bunch of threatening mails/calls which lasted for a whole year, I received a court summon from LFG for a sum of $7,386.58.

So here’s what I did:

1) Put an answer on file ([redacted] ). YOU MUST DO THIS ASAP. It’s a form stating that you deny the claims being charged against you. NY laws stated that you have 20 days from the date of someone serving you the summon or 30 days if it’s certified mail. This will save you from a default judgement. Which means you if don’t do anything, LFG can file a motion to forced your bank to give them the full amount on the summon.

2) Then you should call NY Court with your questions or concerns [redacted]. I did that and guess what? I was told that due to the large volume of summons issued by LFG against small business outside the state of NY that we even have our own section. In which, YOU GET A HEARING VIA PHONE WITH THE JUDGE WITHOUT APPERING IN NY COURT. This is fantastic news but on your Self-Represented Written Answer and Verification (Form CIV-GP-58E) you must put ** I REQUEST A TELEPHONE CONFERENCE.** Though you can skip this option if you chose not to represent yourself BUT GET THE ANSWER OUT. Also, on the verification side you can cross out New York and put whatever state and county you’re in. I’ve called the court and they let you do that since again they received so many from out of state. But don’t take my word for it and call them.

3) Now you’ll no doubt get mails from lawyers advertising themselves to represent you for XXX amount. I’ve chosen not to and this is why but please if you don’t feel conformable without legal representation do not read # 3 any further. I’ve talked to the lawyers and basically, you either pays to wait for LFG to take you down or have it over with by representing yourself. During my consolation calls with so and so lawyers they told me that in these case either you get to wait long enough for the summon to drop (Years) or if you’re the unlucky ones to get picked then the settlement amount is 75% (Was told by consultation lawyer). Unlucky in the sense that the court literally have hundreds of these case and they can only pick up so many per day. So you have a good chance that nothing will happen to your case or it will get reviewed. You can also check the status of such case using this website [redacted]. Then choose WebCivil Court, enter the code to prove you’re human, Click on Attorney/Firm, and search for your lawyer and check Attorney Represents Defendant. You’ll see that most of these case are left idle with “Active” status and very few are settled. I felt that I don’t want to wait because I saved everything from the contracts to bank statements. I know I have a good chance of proving intent for maliciousness. Not to mention, it’s the same if I hired a lawyer. I would just give the lawyer my materials and they will do the same thing with what I gave but I won’t know where I stand. I don’t want to wait for the axe to drop and hire a lawyer so they can settle for 75% if I’m the unlucky one. But to each his own and this is my decision. I might lose the case or I might not which is unfortunate but you just got to decide how you’ll fight your own battle.

4) Contact the Attorney General (AG) of New York and file a complaint form [redacted] as well as your state AG. I’m from Tx so here’s the link [redacted] for fellow Texans. Keep in mind that these are public so don’t submit forms with sensitive info.

5) Make a Big Scene. Contact local media, twitter, FB, Yelp, complaints forums, Revdex.com website, ect and the more awareness there are the more heat LFG will feel. Look also for class action suits against these guys. I couldn’t find any yet but I could miss them so please let me know if you’re ahead of the curve.

My complaint is that it's unjustified that LFG is suing me for something their partner PS did. I'm not the only one as many small business outside the state of NY has been targeted by these two. If they are not in business with each other than LFG should have terminated all relationship with PS. Yet, LFG did not do so even with PS horrible reputations. Which leads the possibility that PS was set up a as shell to force small business to cancel their contract (to avoid unjust charges) just so LFG can come in and sue for a large sum afterwards.