Tough times bring desperate consumers sometimes and there is a particular kind of loan scam that consumers need to watch out for...the advance fee loan scam.  Basically a business will promise consumers that their loan will be approved without knowing if they qualify and then run off with the processing fee for a loan which never materializes.  Many of these advanced-fee loans are promoted in classified sections of the newspaper and in magazines and they feature toll free numbers to call.  Of course they're also found on the Internet and boast very impressive testimonials.

Reading the fine print, you can find that some of these illegit companies come from outside of the US making it hard for law enforcement to track them down.  In fact, Canadian law enforcement officials say that it's unlikely a legitimate business in Canada would approve a US citizen who has less than perfect credit in the United States.  Legitmate offers also do not require an up-front payment although they may have an application fee but it will be paid after the loan is approved.  If you want to check out one of these advance fee loan companies, just visit www.bbb.org to make sure you don't get taken advantage of.