This company is NOT a licensed Title Loan lender as required under Chapter 516.02(04), Florida Statutes through the State of Florida Department of Financial Regulation – The "Consumer Finance" license they do have, CF9901149, DOES NOT allow for Title Loan lending as defined in Florida Statute 538.03(1)(i).
Marlin Financial / EzLoanLookup.com / EtitleLoan.com / Whetstone Partners, et al , are deliberately using a Florida “CF” type license while acting explicitly as Title Loan lenders. Under Florida Statutes 537.015 Criminal penalties for any person who acts as a title loan lender without first securing the license prescribed by this act (Florida Title Loan Act) commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s.
775.084. In an attempt to shield themselves from prosecution for violation of nearly every provision of the Florida Title Loan Act, they often claim to be a “Consumer Finance Lender”, however, in every internet advertisement, in every telephone interaction, and in written/emailed communications with borrowers or prospective borrowers during the inducement of the contract, they call their product a Title Loan.
MARLIN FINANCIAL a/k/a EZLoanLookup.com was ORDERED TO CEASE AND DESIST (3/24/11) by the State of California by the Department of Corporations due to flagrant violations of that state’s finance laws, and remains banned from operating in that state. This order covered as many as seven of Marlin’s fictitious lender names, including: EZLoanLookup, Costa Mesa Car Title Loans, Corona Car Title Loans, Long Beach Car Title Loans, Bay Area Car Title Loans, Downey Car Title Loans, and Bakersfield Car Title Loans. ALL fictitious names led back to the same owners, the same telephone number, and the same address of 1500 Skokie Blvd, Northbrook IL, 60062.
MARLIN FINANCIAL PHYSICAL ADDRESSES ARE FRONTS
Marlin Financial does not occupy any of their advertised office locations. Google ANY of their office locations:
Miami, FL- 175 SW 7th ST Suite 1214 Miami, FL, 33130. It’s a fake "virtual office" they subscribe to from DaVinci Virtual Solutions. DaVinci, according to their advertisements, offer to “Impress your clientele with an upscale business address”. They will post your company name in the lobby directory, forward your mail and phone calls, sign as the “registered agent” whatever name you wish them to sign for certified mail or court processes, and will even provide a “people greeter” should your client attempt to visit the physical location, but no one from Marlin Financial is actually on site.
Orlando, FL- Google their Orlando Office at 12250 Menta St, Suite 203 Orlando, FL 32837. It’s also a fake- A ten by ten “shared office” cubicle, unoccupied, rented for about $350/month, with mail and call forwarding services.
Miami, FL- Visit their Whetstone Partners office at 382 NE 191st Street #13502 Miami, Florida. Same thing- Fake.
Kendall, FL- Visit their Kendall address. Same thing. FAKE. Research the mailing address where the Florida Dept. of Financial Regulation Consumer Loan license they are illegally using to market and sell Title Loans, and you’ll see 1500 Skokie Blvd, Suite 101, Northbrook, IL 60062- The actual home offices of EZLoanLookup, Marlin Financial, Spark Hire, and IT company, ETech360.com and countless other shell corporations. These are the TOLAN family companies. Some very nice cars parked outside the windows of this otherwise deserted aging office park. Where is “Marlin Financial”? Right there in Northbrook, IL. Why do they ask you to "Wire Transfer" money to their account? Ever wonder why you can't MEET with them in their office? They’re all in Chicago and Washington State.
MARLIN FINANCIAL ENTERS FRAUDULENT ADDRESSES ON OFFICIAL FLORIDA STATE FORMS
How about the very form they fill out to place the lien on your vehicle title: “Application for Reassignment of Lien” shows Marlin Financial a/k/a Jeremy Tolan, under penalty of perjury on Florida DMV form HSMV 82139 (Rev. 06/11)S, lists a Corporate Main Office Address 175 SW 7th STREET, SUITE 1214 MIAMI, FL, 33130. This address is "Virtual", remember? How about the personal address he lists on the form, 14919 SW 87th LANE, MIAMI, FL 33193? Not only is it fake, it’s not even virtual. Even allowing for any possible typographical error, it doesn't exist in any variation, on any map.
DO NOT GIVE THESE PEOPLE ACCESS TO YOUR TITLE or you will become yet another victim of this scam.
MARLIN FINANCIAL BUSINESS MODEL: THE “DEBT CANCELLATION PRODUCT”
People who apply for Title Loans are easy to victimize. They are often broke and have no access to legal help. The victims will dutifully pay their installments per the terms initially agreed to over the telephone, until they sense that they are nearing the repayment point of the loan. Invariably, they ask for the “payoff amount”, or at least, a statement of account, which up until this moment, THEY HAVE NEVER RECEIVED in any way, shape or form. It is at that time that they usually discover that Marlin Financial / EzLoanLookup / Etech360.com / Spark Hire / Commercial-Modification .com, the aforementioned being a/k/a Richard and Bonnie Tolan, Jeremy Tolan, Joshua Tolan, Neil Quiriconi, Peter Pocrnich, and Geronima Medina, and Whetstone Partners / ETitleLoan.com being a/k/a Geronima Medina, have without their knowledge, placed a second “product” onto their contract- a “Debt Cancellation Waiver”, doubling or even tripling the original debt, AND factoring interest upon the entire sum from day one.
FOR EXAMPLE: A loan for $3000, with fees of $150, and an APR of 18.268% over 24 months sounds pretty straight forward, and should cost the borrower $1247 in interest and fees, for a total repayment amount of $4247, if paid over the entire 24 month term. By tacking on the so-called “Debt Cancellation Waiver” for the amount of $6000, the total amount to repay for a $3000 loan jumps to $10,963.20.
When the borrower realizes the debt is insatiable, this often triggers a default, whereupon the unlicensed Title Loan lender, Marlin Financial, immediately seizes their vehicle. While the loan terms stating the Principal, Processing Fees, the Term of the loan, and the APR Interest of 18.268% may appear agreeable, the addition of the “Debt Cancellation Waiver” to the contract effectively makes the Interest Rate 273%. The “Debt Cancellation Waiver” is a non-product. It doesn’t exist. It is not insurance, nor does it protect anyone against anything. Why would they add this “Debt Cancellation Waiver” in the amount of $6000 and represent it to be “insurance” when the loan was only for $3000? After all, they have the entire vehicle as collateral. The maximum amount of money the lender would stand to lose is, for all intents and purposes, the $3000 they lent to the borrower!
Answer: The “Debt Cancellation Waiver” is NOT coverage. It is not insurance (it would, after all, be a felony to sell insurance without a license). The “Debt Cancellation Waiver” is a literal lump sum of debt Marlin Financial adds to the “Total Amount to Repay”. The borrower is never lent this additional $6000, and in no way has the use of the $6000, but they are held accountable to repay it as if it had been lent to them, all the while, UNDER the THREAT OF VEHICLE SEIZURE.
MARLIN FINANCIAL HIDING BEHIND MANY FICTITIOUS NAMES AND SHELL CORPORATIONS
"Marlin Financial" is just one of MANY FICTITIOUS NAMES being used by the same group of scammers. Other names they operate under include: EZLoanLookup.com, Whetstone Partners and ETitleLoans.com, Spark Hire and Etech360.com and most recently, www.Commercial-Modification.com. Many of which have shut down their web addresses, and none of the locations advertised by Marlin Financial are real. The names of the players: Geronima Medina of Washington State, Richard and Bonnie Tolan, Jeremy Tolan, Joshua Tolan, Neil Quiriconi and Peter Pocrnich of Northbrook, IL. Marlin and all its associated entities are incorporated in WYOMING, under a bogus principal address of 1712 Pioneer Ave Suite 6723 Cheyenne, WY 82001, presumably to avoid IL state income tax and to maintain anonymity. Once again, all these entities operate out of a single physical address, share the same staff and personnel, and are operated by the same chief individuals, Richard and Bonnie Tolan, Jeremy Tolan, Joshua Tolan, Peter Pocrnich, Neil Quiriconi and Geronima Medina. It’s a typical boiler-room operation. The only thing real, is their ability to electronically transfer your title into their name, triple your debt with a fraudulent "Insurance Plan" which costs twice as much as your actual loan amount, wait for you to fold, seize your vehicle, and move onto the next easy mark.
And NOW, the same ppl are doing a new Marlin SCAM in North Carolina
Marlin Financial is JEREMY TOLAN of 1500 Skokie Blvd, Northbrook IL 60062!! And now that the states of California and Florida have all but hauled him to prison, he has busted out a NEW INTERNET TITLE LOAN SCAM IN NORTH CAROLINA called "APPROVEDFINANCIAL.com"! and boy is the state of North Carolina pissed! Look up Jeremy Tolan and read the injunctions Florida and North Carolina have issued about him and the things this punk criminal has done in just a few short years!!!!!
Marlin Financial is also ApprovedFinancial.com and SpeedwayLoans.com and EZLoan.com and Commercial-Modification.com and EZDinero.com and MilitaryCash.com and ALL THESE EMPTY SHELL CORPORATIONS have no employees because the employees in the boiler room call center, located at 1500 Skokie Blvd, Northbrook, IL 60062, work for yet another internet shell corporation called ETech360.com and/or SparkHire.com. The same Four People run this WHOLE SCAM in multiple states: Jeremy Tolan, Josh Tolan, and their parents, Richard Tolan and Bonnie Tolan. There is one local scam artist in Miami who picks up the mail and forwards it all to Northbrook IL. Her name is Geronima Medina, and she had her very OWN title loan scam called ETitleLoan.com and Whetstone Partners which have been shut down.
Marlin Financial, Inc. Reviews
MARLIN FINANCIAL IS NOT LICENSED
This company is NOT a licensed Title Loan lender as required under Chapter 516.02(04), Florida Statutes through the State of Florida Department of Financial Regulation – The "Consumer Finance" license they do have, CF9901149, DOES NOT allow for Title Loan lending as defined in Florida Statute 538.03(1)(i).
Marlin Financial / EzLoanLookup.com / EtitleLoan.com / Whetstone Partners, et al , are deliberately using a Florida “CF” type license while acting explicitly as Title Loan lenders. Under Florida Statutes 537.015 Criminal penalties for any person who acts as a title loan lender without first securing the license prescribed by this act (Florida Title Loan Act) commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s.
775.084. In an attempt to shield themselves from prosecution for violation of nearly every provision of the Florida Title Loan Act, they often claim to be a “Consumer Finance Lender”, however, in every internet advertisement, in every telephone interaction, and in written/emailed communications with borrowers or prospective borrowers during the inducement of the contract, they call their product a Title Loan.
MARLIN FINANCIAL a/k/a EZLoanLookup.com was ORDERED TO CEASE AND DESIST (3/24/11) by the State of California by the Department of Corporations due to flagrant violations of that state’s finance laws, and remains banned from operating in that state. This order covered as many as seven of Marlin’s fictitious lender names, including: EZLoanLookup, Costa Mesa Car Title Loans, Corona Car Title Loans, Long Beach Car Title Loans, Bay Area Car Title Loans, Downey Car Title Loans, and Bakersfield Car Title Loans. ALL fictitious names led back to the same owners, the same telephone number, and the same address of 1500 Skokie Blvd, Northbrook IL, 60062.
MARLIN FINANCIAL PHYSICAL ADDRESSES ARE FRONTS
Marlin Financial does not occupy any of their advertised office locations. Google ANY of their office locations:
Miami, FL- 175 SW 7th ST Suite 1214 Miami, FL, 33130. It’s a fake "virtual office" they subscribe to from DaVinci Virtual Solutions. DaVinci, according to their advertisements, offer to “Impress your clientele with an upscale business address”. They will post your company name in the lobby directory, forward your mail and phone calls, sign as the “registered agent” whatever name you wish them to sign for certified mail or court processes, and will even provide a “people greeter” should your client attempt to visit the physical location, but no one from Marlin Financial is actually on site.
Orlando, FL- Google their Orlando Office at 12250 Menta St, Suite 203 Orlando, FL 32837. It’s also a fake- A ten by ten “shared office” cubicle, unoccupied, rented for about $350/month, with mail and call forwarding services.
Miami, FL- Visit their Whetstone Partners office at 382 NE 191st Street #13502 Miami, Florida. Same thing- Fake.
Kendall, FL- Visit their Kendall address. Same thing. FAKE. Research the mailing address where the Florida Dept. of Financial Regulation Consumer Loan license they are illegally using to market and sell Title Loans, and you’ll see 1500 Skokie Blvd, Suite 101, Northbrook, IL 60062- The actual home offices of EZLoanLookup, Marlin Financial, Spark Hire, and IT company, ETech360.com and countless other shell corporations. These are the TOLAN family companies. Some very nice cars parked outside the windows of this otherwise deserted aging office park. Where is “Marlin Financial”? Right there in Northbrook, IL. Why do they ask you to "Wire Transfer" money to their account? Ever wonder why you can't MEET with them in their office? They’re all in Chicago and Washington State.
MARLIN FINANCIAL ENTERS FRAUDULENT ADDRESSES ON OFFICIAL FLORIDA STATE FORMS
How about the very form they fill out to place the lien on your vehicle title: “Application for Reassignment of Lien” shows Marlin Financial a/k/a Jeremy Tolan, under penalty of perjury on Florida DMV form HSMV 82139 (Rev. 06/11)S, lists a Corporate Main Office Address 175 SW 7th STREET, SUITE 1214 MIAMI, FL, 33130. This address is "Virtual", remember? How about the personal address he lists on the form, 14919 SW 87th LANE, MIAMI, FL 33193? Not only is it fake, it’s not even virtual. Even allowing for any possible typographical error, it doesn't exist in any variation, on any map.
DO NOT GIVE THESE PEOPLE ACCESS TO YOUR TITLE or you will become yet another victim of this scam.
MARLIN FINANCIAL BUSINESS MODEL: THE “DEBT CANCELLATION PRODUCT”
People who apply for Title Loans are easy to victimize. They are often broke and have no access to legal help. The victims will dutifully pay their installments per the terms initially agreed to over the telephone, until they sense that they are nearing the repayment point of the loan. Invariably, they ask for the “payoff amount”, or at least, a statement of account, which up until this moment, THEY HAVE NEVER RECEIVED in any way, shape or form. It is at that time that they usually discover that Marlin Financial / EzLoanLookup / Etech360.com / Spark Hire / Commercial-Modification .com, the aforementioned being a/k/a Richard and Bonnie Tolan, Jeremy Tolan, Joshua Tolan, Neil Quiriconi, Peter Pocrnich, and Geronima Medina, and Whetstone Partners / ETitleLoan.com being a/k/a Geronima Medina, have without their knowledge, placed a second “product” onto their contract- a “Debt Cancellation Waiver”, doubling or even tripling the original debt, AND factoring interest upon the entire sum from day one.
FOR EXAMPLE: A loan for $3000, with fees of $150, and an APR of 18.268% over 24 months sounds pretty straight forward, and should cost the borrower $1247 in interest and fees, for a total repayment amount of $4247, if paid over the entire 24 month term. By tacking on the so-called “Debt Cancellation Waiver” for the amount of $6000, the total amount to repay for a $3000 loan jumps to $10,963.20.
When the borrower realizes the debt is insatiable, this often triggers a default, whereupon the unlicensed Title Loan lender, Marlin Financial, immediately seizes their vehicle. While the loan terms stating the Principal, Processing Fees, the Term of the loan, and the APR Interest of 18.268% may appear agreeable, the addition of the “Debt Cancellation Waiver” to the contract effectively makes the Interest Rate 273%. The “Debt Cancellation Waiver” is a non-product. It doesn’t exist. It is not insurance, nor does it protect anyone against anything. Why would they add this “Debt Cancellation Waiver” in the amount of $6000 and represent it to be “insurance” when the loan was only for $3000? After all, they have the entire vehicle as collateral. The maximum amount of money the lender would stand to lose is, for all intents and purposes, the $3000 they lent to the borrower!
Answer: The “Debt Cancellation Waiver” is NOT coverage. It is not insurance (it would, after all, be a felony to sell insurance without a license). The “Debt Cancellation Waiver” is a literal lump sum of debt Marlin Financial adds to the “Total Amount to Repay”. The borrower is never lent this additional $6000, and in no way has the use of the $6000, but they are held accountable to repay it as if it had been lent to them, all the while, UNDER the THREAT OF VEHICLE SEIZURE.
MARLIN FINANCIAL HIDING BEHIND MANY FICTITIOUS NAMES AND SHELL CORPORATIONS
"Marlin Financial" is just one of MANY FICTITIOUS NAMES being used by the same group of scammers. Other names they operate under include: EZLoanLookup.com, Whetstone Partners and ETitleLoans.com, Spark Hire and Etech360.com and most recently, www.Commercial-Modification.com. Many of which have shut down their web addresses, and none of the locations advertised by Marlin Financial are real. The names of the players: Geronima Medina of Washington State, Richard and Bonnie Tolan, Jeremy Tolan, Joshua Tolan, Neil Quiriconi and Peter Pocrnich of Northbrook, IL. Marlin and all its associated entities are incorporated in WYOMING, under a bogus principal address of 1712 Pioneer Ave Suite 6723 Cheyenne, WY 82001, presumably to avoid IL state income tax and to maintain anonymity. Once again, all these entities operate out of a single physical address, share the same staff and personnel, and are operated by the same chief individuals, Richard and Bonnie Tolan, Jeremy Tolan, Joshua Tolan, Peter Pocrnich, Neil Quiriconi and Geronima Medina. It’s a typical boiler-room operation. The only thing real, is their ability to electronically transfer your title into their name, triple your debt with a fraudulent "Insurance Plan" which costs twice as much as your actual loan amount, wait for you to fold, seize your vehicle, and move onto the next easy mark.
And NOW, the same ppl are doing a new Marlin SCAM in North Carolina
Marlin Financial is JEREMY TOLAN of 1500 Skokie Blvd, Northbrook IL 60062!! And now that the states of California and Florida have all but hauled him to prison, he has busted out a NEW INTERNET TITLE LOAN SCAM IN NORTH CAROLINA called "APPROVEDFINANCIAL.com"! and boy is the state of North Carolina pissed! Look up Jeremy Tolan and read the injunctions Florida and North Carolina have issued about him and the things this punk criminal has done in just a few short years!!!!!
You hit the nail on the head!
Marlin Financial is also ApprovedFinancial.com and SpeedwayLoans.com and EZLoan.com and Commercial-Modification.com and EZDinero.com and MilitaryCash.com and ALL THESE EMPTY SHELL CORPORATIONS have no employees because the employees in the boiler room call center, located at 1500 Skokie Blvd, Northbrook, IL 60062, work for yet another internet shell corporation called ETech360.com and/or SparkHire.com. The same Four People run this WHOLE SCAM in multiple states: Jeremy Tolan, Josh Tolan, and their parents, Richard Tolan and Bonnie Tolan. There is one local scam artist in Miami who picks up the mail and forwards it all to Northbrook IL. Her name is Geronima Medina, and she had her very OWN title loan scam called ETitleLoan.com and Whetstone Partners which have been shut down.
Deception regarding title loan and did not indicate car was going to be repo. Now has tacked on extra fees making it impossible to get car back.