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Never send money first to get a loan

Listen up. It's still happening. Scam artists are bilking troops and their families out of hundreds, even thousands, of dollars with illegal loans. The sad thing is, it's difficult to catch these crooks -- many of whom are hiding under a rock someplace in Canada.

One thing you should never do: send money to get a loan. It is illegal for a company to request it, and it's a definite tip-off to a potential scam.

The Better Business Bureau of Chicago has been trying to help a soldier who lost nearly $4,000 in September. He was lured by the offer of a $14,000 loan, supposedly at 8.5 percent interest. He was approved, on the condition that he send 15 percent of the amount as a "collateral payment." He wired $2,278 to an account in Canada.

The loan money, which was supposed to be wired to the soldier's account, never appeared. A couple of phone calls later, a "customer service representative" told him he needed to send an "insurance payment."

He sent $837.

Still no loan money.

He called and was put through to a "supervisor," who said he had only paid half of the required "insurance."

He sent another $837.

Still no loan money.

He called, and a "supervisor" told him he needed to send more money as security. At that point, he told the person to send back his money. It would take two weeks, he was told, and he would have to pay $20 a day "interest," because the loan had already been processed.

At that point, he filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and contacted his judge advocate general's office. Because the company listed an address in Illinois, the Chicago and Northern Illinois office of the BBB has been investigating but has not found the company, which listed an invalid address.

According to the Illinois attorney general, nearly all of these loan scams establish post office boxes or addresses in the U.S. but are in Canada and request that consumers wire money to locations there before they receive a loan. Many use cell phones with U.S. area codes.

They avoid the U.S. Postal Service to keep from being detected and prosecuted by postal authorities.

Holly Petraeus, senior program consultant for the BBB Military Line, said that when the Chicago BBB contacted her, she asked it to advise the soldier to go directly to Army Emergency Relief.

"If he needed to borrow $14,000 before, now he needs $18,000. ... Your heart breaks for him," she said, adding that he is unlikely to recover his money.

Along with reporting businesses to the BBB, Petraeus said, victims of such scams should report them to www.econsumer.gov, a coalition of consumer protection agencies from 20 countries that gathers and shares consumer complaints.

But you'll be better off in the long run if you just remember to never send money to get a loan in the first place.

Discount central

The goal of retired Air Force pilot Col. Dale Kissinger and his son Dan is to create the largest database of local military discounts and offers on the Web.

That's an ambitious goal, but the Kissingers are determined. They've started with a new Web site, www.militaryavenue.com.

The site includes 100 categories, with more than 880,000 businesses or organizations -- restaurants, stores, schools, entertainment, leisure, child care, kennels and much more.

The Kissinger family knows all too well what it's like trying to get situated in a new community, having moved 18 times in 30 years.

They're hoping to attract companies that offer discounts to military communities, so check your particular installation to see what's available. In the meantime, they've posted information about businesses in 218 military communities.

In addition, they have climate, travel and transportation information, and they plan to include school districts' "report cards" for communities that make such data available.

They're also hiring people at military bases as salespeople to bring businesses in to advertise and to update local events information for their areas. They encourage spouses to apply; contact them through the Web site at www.militaryavenue.com/employment.aspx.

Explore the option -- you never know when a useful discount might pop up in your area.

Got that? You're good to go.