Leasecomm Corporation is a commercial finance lessor in Massachusetts. Thousands of small businesspeople across the country feel that they have been ripped off. Now finally they're exposing the truth. Join us in our ongoing discussion. You can post messages on quote.yahoo.com (Yahoo! Finance) discussion of MFI (Microfinancial Inc.) Microfinancial Inc. is the parent company of Leasecomm. You can join in the discussion there and tell the stockholders the truth about their investment and talk with other Leasecomm lessees.

Yahoo! Finance MFI- Microfinancial Inc. (LEASECOMM) Message Board
http://messages.yahoo.com/?action=q&board=MFI

"The underlying product is not relevant... Collecting the receivable is what is relevant. I make my money by collecting." Peter von Bleyleben, president and CEO of Microfinancial Inc. (Leasecomm)

LAWSUITS: Those of you familiar with Leasecomm Corporation probably already know the tremendous number of lawsuits they file every year to enforce their contracts. Now there are at least two Class Action lawsuits against the company.

http://www.concordlawyers.com/caal.htm

1. Don't sign the contract unless you know what you're getting yourself into. Many people simply do not have a choice. If they want the equipment, they have to sign a lease because they do not have the cash to buy it up front. One reason people give as to why they sign the lease in the first place is that there are tax benefits. This is simply untrue. The IRS treats finance leases are purchases. You cannot deduct these payments as expenses. Why is this? Because finance leasing is simply an expensive form of ownership. By the time you're through paying all that money after say, three to four years, the equipment has little value anyway. Do you know that a Leasecomm employee told me that she would never sign a Leasecomm lease? Of course these employees wouldn't tell you this when they're trying to get your business. It's after that and when they're suing you that they let you in on the truth.

Something else to think about: If you're looking for credit card processing equipment for your brick and mortar retail store, why not buy it on eBay? Every day people go into business and every day people go out of business. What happens to used credit card processing terminals? Well if the people leased the terminals, they have to keep making payments. They can't just send it back to the dealer or lessor. So they're stuck with useless equipment. Why won't you buy this equipment used for less than 150 dollars instead of paying over a thousand through finance leasing? If a sales representative from a merchant processing company tells you that you have to lease the (physical) point of sale equipment, that you can't buy it, find a different company. Now with special e-commerce processing software you may not have a choice for buying from a third party.

Finally there is one important point to consider. When you pay for something with a credit card, if you have been defrauded, you know that you can always take contest the charge. In fact one person who paid for their home business opportunity with a credit card was able to get out of the deal because the issuing bank forced a charge back. For the people who bought the same home business opportunity fraud but leased through Leasecomm, they were not able to get out of the deal. Try sending Leasecomm a complaint telling them that you've been defrauded. You will not get anywhere. If you signed the lease and you received the equipment in the mail, they will hold you to the contract. You might think that paying with a credit card is expensive. However, if you do a real analysis of the rate of return or interest rate that Leasecomm earns on its leases, you would be astonished. We're talking about interest rates in the 30s%. Part of that is due to the fact that they discount the purchase price from the dealer. You are rated as a potential lessee according to your credit breath and depth. The riskier you are the more they discount the purchase price and higher interest rate they earn. Unfortunately these higher interest rates would not normally fall under the category of usury (legal name for loan sharking) because usury refers to loans to consumers and these are leases to businesses. Consumer protections put in place by law are not present because of the classification of these transactions. In other words you as the lessee have chosen a form of financing which does not offer certain protections and is really more expensive.

2. Complain to the Attorney General's Office. Dozens of complaints have been sent to the Attorney General's office. Unfortunately this represents only a small fraction of the number of people involved.

   The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
   Office of the Attorney General
   200 Portland St., Boston, MA 02114
   (617) 727-2200.

You can also obtain copies of complaints against Leasecomm. This is public information. Call or write the same address to receive that information. Sample complaint

3. Complain to the Federal Trade Commission. You can send your complaint to:

   Federal Trade Commission
   CRC-240
   Washington, D.C. 20580

   Or call 1-877-FTC-HELP or complain online at https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm.

4. Complain to the Better Business Bureau. Many people have complained to the BBB. Leasecomm does respond to every complaint and so maintains a satisfactory status with the BBB. It is important to realize that the BBB has no enforcement power. People could send ten thousand complaints over there and they would not be able to force Leasecomm to stop its practices. Therefore it is much more important that you complain to the FTC and to the Massachusets State Attorney General's Office as they have the power to sue for unfair trade practices. Both the FTC and the State Attorney General's Office DO NOT act on behalf of individuals. You cannot expect them to be your lawyer. However, with enough complaints, they may decide to act against the company.

   Go here to view the BBB's reliability report on Leasecomm.

   Also, you can Complain Online.

5. If you had a bad experience, tell people about it. Get involved. Post to the message boards and post to the newsgroups. Don't let these people get away with it. (For the Message Board Go to ) To reach a broader audience, post to the Usenet. There is also a site specifically for complaints. Visit http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/l/leasecomm_toc.htm and http://www.papersourceonline.com/discus/messages/1649/3159.html to view complaints about Leasecomm.

If you were defrauded by the vendor of your equipment, make sure that you follow the above steps to report them to the authorities. You may have recourse against the vendor, if they have not already gone out of business, as many of these fraudulent companies do.

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Please refrain from leaving private messages here. In the past I was literally spending hours a day in many private conversations and it became a waste of time and energy. My primary goal is to warn people before they sign the lease. However, If you do leave a private message, I will get back to you but it probably won't be for a long time as I check my Leasescamm e-mail only to keep track of my submission status to search engines. If you want more support and answers to your questions, you should post to the Yahoo! board. Thanks