I am thinking this is a scam but wondered if anyone else got this email. It is supposedly from Itellishop and it claims the company wants you to buy a car and then return it 7 days later??? It has a high fee but I cannot believe it is legit and who would do such a shop???

I haven't seen this email.

I haven't seen it, what's the fee? lol..

By any chance does it involve sending you a check for you deposit for purchasing the car?

They send you a check for $4,999.00, of which you apply $3,999 to the purchase of the vehicle. You keep the rest. Your time is valuable!

Do you want to do it? I can hook you up.

(heart)

It's a SCAM of course

Okay, I confess, I just made that stuff up. (I'm trying to lighten up.)

(heart)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2014 10:10PM by stilllearning.

As of the first email there no mention of the typical, send my xyz, and I will send you money. It does raise red flags and even if it was legit, I would not be interested. Can you even return a car???

Here is the email.....


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Earn $500 or $750 for just one shop!

Hello, C


I am gauging interest in a new, upcoming program! Please respond to this email to let me know if you're interested!

I have a set of 3 shops that will require you to engage in an online car-buying process. You will actually purchase a car and then return it within 7 days, evaluating the process each step of the way.

These will be labor- and time-intensive shops, but I can assure you that you will have guidance every step of the way.

One of the shops will require the shopper to finance the vehicle through the website itself. Another will require the shopper to get financing from your bank or credit union. The third will require the shopper to pay between $10-35,000 cash for the vehicle.

You will have to own or lease a vehicle to do this shop, since part of it requires that you ask about a trade-in. (You will not trade in your vehicle.)

Once the car is returned, it will be as though the purchase never happened, so you needn't worry about permanent changes to your credit report. There will be no costs to you, and in the event that there are any unforeseen related expenses, we will cover them. The return process is guaranteed.

The shops that require financing will pay $500; the cash buyer will be paid $750.



I am happy to answer any questions that you may have about this shop. Again, right now, I am just gauging interest, so if you are at all considering the offer, please respond to this email and indicate as much.

Thank you for your consideration! I look forward to hearing from you!

[Name withheld]| Field Staff Coordinator


IntelliShop, LLC. :: 2025 Michael Owens Way Perrysburg, OH 43551
[www.intelli-shop.com]

Mod note: Sender of email does not want name published

I believe it is real but it will destroy your credit

A 10 foot pole shop, lol. No thanks.

Sounds like a nightmare but it may be legit.

Why does everyone think doing a credit transaction "destroys" your credit?

What destroys your credit rating is not paying your bills.

Sounds legitimate to me, actually. But I would be concerned about taking possession of the car, because then you have to involve your insurance company, and there could be problems if the car was damaged or stolen while in your possession. That could affect your insurance rates, never mind your credit rating. Unless that would be considered an "unforeseen" additional expense that they say they will cover.

I might be willing to do something like this. I don't think I could qualify for a loan right now but I could do the cash thing. I have people I could borrow the cash from on a short-term basis.

dspeakes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why does everyone think doing a credit transaction
> "destroys" your credit?
>
> What destroys your credit rating is not paying
> your bills.
>
> Sounds legitimate to me, actually. But I would be
> concerned about taking possession of the car,
> because then you have to involve your insurance
> company, and there could be problems if the car
> was damaged or stolen while in your possession.
> That could affect your insurance rates, never mind
> your credit rating. Unless that would be
> considered an "unforeseen" additional expense that
> they say they will cover.
>
> I might be willing to do something like this. I
> don't think I could qualify for a loan right now
> but I could do the cash thing. I have people I
> could borrow the cash from on a short-term basis.


Because you are buying a car "3" times. Every time you attempt to purchase, I am sure there is a credit check done. (with the exception of one cash purchase, I believe it says you must pay cash)

Now, this client is saying they will prevent a credit hit but usually the first thing that happens when you sit down with a dealer and you are a serious buyer, they run a credit check if you are financing the car,

Unless things have changed...

I like the part of buying the car for $10-$35000. I will sign up for the buying the car for $10 cash. Might be an easier shop than the mangled pizza shop that has $10 invested.

If you are unsure if it is legit you could contact Intellishop through their website contact info and ask

Maybe I didn't understand but I read it that they have three kinds of shops, not that one shopper would do all three. It would be very unusual for someone to be able to qualify for two car loans within a short time and if they could, they're making so much money I'd have to wonder why they're mystery shopping.

You CAN NOT just return a car. If you get your credit checked your history CAN NOT be removed. If you get a car loan the financial institution will not let you just cancel the loan. Once a new car is sold it is now used. There are a few dealers that will take back used cars in five days or less. There is no car dealer that would participate in something like this. This is a short list of why this is either a scam or one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard of. I have been in the car business over 15 years, including sales and business management.

I'm sure if the car company is the client, they can control all these factors for the mystery shop. And I'm pretty sure a company who makes a report on a credit record *can* remove it. This isn't the first shop that has said a hard pull would be expunged.

If the car loan is through the car company, they can certainly cancel the loan. If you get a car loan from your own bank and pay it off a week later -- what's the difference? They will cancel the loan when it is paid off. Nobody is out any money. They gave you $15,000 to buy a car. You bought the car, returned it, you got your money back in the form of a cashier's check made out to your bank to pay off the loan.

One thing I would want to know before doing this shop is who commissioned it. If the client is the car company you are shopping, go for it. If it's a competitor shop, I'd run the other direction. But I suspect from what was described that the car company is probably the client and is trying to evaluate sales techniques based on cash price, in-house financing, and privately obtained financing. I'm guessing there will be a specific car to purchase and they want to know what the price is based on these three factors, what other things they try to pack onto the deal based on the financing source, how the trade-in price differs based on the financing source, what information they try to gather that maybe they don't need and shouldn't have (for instance a cash sale should not require a credit check).

It's just another purchase and return shop. But this one could be problematic to coordinate because of all the elements, starting with how do you get to the shop and not have to leave your car behind when you drive off with the car you bought? So to start with, you need someone to help you with this (and on the return trip).

On second thought, insurance wouldn't likely be involved; most insurance companies will cover a new car for 30 days before requiring it to have its own policy. This is only going to be a week. But an accident could still raise your insurance rates so this would be something to find out about before taking the shop.

Anyway, I say it again. I think this is a legitimate proposition, but there are a lot of details to be sure of before proceeding.

All procedural red flags aside, could you imagine the nightmare of reporting the data to this company over and over again?

Dspeakes,

If for some reason a dealer would want this then yes they could hold the paperwork and not submit any of it. What they can not do is require that your financial institution remove their credit check. The shop would also require that the vehicle not be delivered. That being said, with everything signed the car is owned by the purchaser. If anything goes wrong......

Being in the business I personally see no value in this suggested shop. For less than half the fee being presented can hire highly trained professionals to do the same thing. That way all of the appropriate stop measures are in place. This is too sensitive an area to allow any room for error or risk the shop process is comprised in any way.

Color me suspicious, but I'm still having a hard time believing this. No one else here got a similar email? Is it on their job board in your area, Spot?

It sounds like it could be legitimate for the reasons mentioned above. The first thing I'd do is call the MSC and ask them. Then let us know for curiosity's sake please.

I suppose "Psuedo Dealership" could in fact control some of things here..... Can returning a car after you purchased on-line be easy and pain-free?

Once again, if it's just shop and the dealership controls the entire process, from online purchase to full return, then this could be legitimate.

But still, the credit hit, how can they wipe that away?

Why is everyone so worried about a credit hit? What hurts a credit score is being turned down, defaulting on a loan, etc. A mere inquiry, or a successful application, are neutral or positive effects. It will show your credit was inquired, that a loan was issued, and that it was paid off early. Where's the downside I'm not seeing?

Unsuccessful credit applications are negatives; they show someone judged you not credit worthy. You can have good credit and have a negative hit if you try to borrow above your means to pay. The factors that go into your overall credit score are so many that a single hit has little overall effect.

If I am ever trying to get credit for real and a question comes up about these stray hits, I will tell them I am a mystery shopper and some of the shops involved allowing credit hits and will produce the job paperwork proving I was on a shop. No I will not give them a copy of the report; only the job offer describing what needed to be done.

What I would avoid would be doing this shop if I seriously planned to finance a car in the next year. And if your credit is marginal or poor to start with you shouldn't do this shop because you might be turned down and then that really would put a negative on your report. (I'm assuming your concerns are that the company really can't get the hits expunged.) But if you have a strong credit profile, a tick here and there aren't going to affect much. Sure, you don't want to waste those ticks but for $500? That's worth a tick to me; I took a hit for a $35 cell phone shop. And yet the credit card offers keep coming.....

I have not seen it posted anywhere else except for my email. I guess my red flag is up if nobody else has gotten it. I will call intellishop and speak with them.

dspeakes, opening a new account does indeed lower your credit scores because you are incurring additional debt and/or exposure to additional debt. The effect is often only for a few months, depending on other factors, such as the amount owed in relation to the credit limit, etc, but it definitely lowers your score.

As an example, I used to be a loan officer and I had a client who was purchasing a home. Initially, her credit score was, I believe, 740. When it was time to finalize the loan, her credit was pulled again. Her score had dropped something like 30-35 points because she had opened a new credit card account. Aargh!

(heart)

Lowering the score is not the same thing as trashing it.

Credit card accounts are riskier because they are unsecured open lines of credit. you can't keep running up a bill on an auto loan, and there is collateral backing the auto loan.

If you are planning to buy a house or car in the near future, the general advice is to avoid *any* impacts on your credit score. So opening a credit card was a silly thing for that home buyer to do while going through escrow. What was she thinking? She was thinking of making sure she could run out and charge a bunch of new furniture for her new house! Not a sign of good credit management. I've gotten mortgages in the past that required us to close some credit cards to ensure we couldn't run up more debt than we could handle. Within three months of closing escrow were were getting pre-approved offers in the mail again.

But I do shops like this because I know my score can take whatever minor hit it incurs. And I'm not planning to buy anything very soon.

I would want more money than $500.

So....An update, I got another email and I do think it is legit! I am not touching it and good luck to those that do! I cannot imagine what headache this will be~!


I am writing to give you a status update on the car purchase and return shops that I solicited for yesterday. I have received many responses, and I am working my way through them now. We are forging ahead with scheduling, so if you replied to me, please expect a personal response within the next few days.



For those of you who expressed interest, please be assured that this is a legitimate shop and I will do everything in my power to guide the three shoppers I assign through the process. I know that I am asking a lot. In no way would I want this shop to cause harm to a shopper who has been so kind as to work with me. Please email me with any questions or concerns you may have; I am happy to answer them - though it may take me a few days, so I humbly ask for your patience!




Thank you so much for your consideration. Have a wonderful day!