Montel Williams loans may have a catch

Montel Williams had one of the longest running shows on TV. As a result, many people trust his advice.

A Cincinnati area woman, however, tells me that she's now deeper in debt that ever before, all because she listened to Montel.

Times Got Tough

Karen Kelly  is a mom and nurse who struggles to make ends meet. So when times got really tough, she turned to a name she trusted: Montel Williams, and an ad she saw on late night TV.

Montel, in the commercial,says "go to MoneyMutual. com today and get up to $1,000 in your checking account by tomorrow."

Karen said "I mean who doesn't know Montel Williams? And I figured it was safe, and secure."

So she applied for a loan from MoneyMutual.com, the website with Montel's reassuring face, giving it her bank account number.

Almost immediately, she says, her inbox was deluged. Karen told me "when I checked my email, I had 477 lenders saying I was preapproved, we accept your application."

Companies Debit her Account

Worse, though, she says, is that several membership clubs started taking money out of her account without her consent!

She said "one charged me a membership of $149, right out of my checking account, when I had just eight dollars in there. That was the reason I applied for the loan."

Her bank agreed to waive the overdraft fees, but Karen says the charges kept coming. She showed me receipts from a "Web Discount Club" that charged her $22, and from a "Liberty Discount Club" that charged her $34.

How Does Your Name Get Shared?

MoneyMutual -- based in Silver Springs, Nevada according to a Whois search of its website -- is not a lender: The fine print states it shares your information with many different lenders. And that may be the problem.

Complaint sites like RipoffReport.com and ComplaintsBoard.com are filled with stories similar to Karen's regarding MoneyMutual, as is the blog of one consumer law legal group (click here) .

Where is Montel?

I wanted to reach Montel Williams personally, but did not get a response when I emailed Montel's agency, and even sent a message to his personal facebook account.

However, after emailing MoneyMutual.com, a representative replied to me saying that "Karen Kelly may have mistakenly responded to an ad she saw while looking for Montel's website.  We share names with only legitimate lenders, and do not give out personal informaiton to companies that will  charge your bank account without your permission."

Karen does not believe she applied anywhere else other than at Montel's MoneyMutual site, but of course it is possible that she clicked on an ad that took her to another site, where she shared her banking information.

Meantime, if you're in financial trouble and need a loan, look locally first.

And never give your bank account or debit card number out to a website, unless you are 100% sure its safe

That way you dont waste your money.

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