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The Missouri attorney general is suing a Utah-based Internet payday lender alleging that it sold loans to Missouri residents without a required license, and attempted to garnish wages there illegally without court orders.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed suit in state courts there against FloBridge Group of Orem, seeking an injunction to stop it from operating there, and to force it to comply with orders for information about its Missouri dealings. It also seeks civil penalties of $1,000 for each loan the company made there.
That comes after the Better Business Bureau in Utah revoked FloBridge's membership last month, and gives it a rating of D-minus.
The BBB's website said it revoked the membership because the Idaho Consumer Finance Bureau last year ordered FloBridge to cease unlicensed payday lending there and claimed it was "engaging in fraudulent or unconscionable conduct in connection with unlicensed payday lending activity." The BBB said that government action was "unresolved."
Company officials and its attorney did not immediately return calls from The Salt Lake Tribune seeking comment. But a letter by its attorney, included in documents with the Missouri lawsuit, said that it does not make loans to Missouri residents.
The lawsuit, however, included affidavits from a Missouri state investigator quoting residents there saying FloBridge attempted to garnish their wages without a court order when they could not keep up high-interest payments.
FloBridge's website on Friday was offering payday loans at 664.84 percent annual interest. For a two-week loan of $100, that would cost $25.50.