Nevada business briefs

A Canadian company doing business in Carson City has been ordered to stop loan and check-cashing services immediately.

Financial Institutions Division Deputy Commissioner Steven Kondrup said FastCashCard has been making deferred-deposit loans, short-term loans, title loans and cashing checks without a state license, which is a violation of Nevada law.

He said Financial Institutions investigated after receiving a complaint from a FastCashCard customer. He said the company does business primarily through the Internet and cautioned people seeking loans against doing business with Internet loan companies.

"I wouldn't do loans on the Internet at all," Kondrup said. "People need to really, really stay away from them because you don't know who you dealing with."

He said many Internet loan companies aren't licensed: "They do not want to comply with the rules and regulations that are set in place."

Kondrup said FastCashCard will be fined the maximum $50,000 for the violations once the operators of the company are tracked down.

In addition, he said Nevada law allows consumers to go to court and ask that their contracts be voided.

He said anyone who believes they are dealing with an unscrupulous or unlicensed lender should contact the Financial Institutions Division at 684-1830 and file a complaint.

State debt-collection program takes in $5 million

The Nevada state debt collection program run by the controller's office has now reclaimed more than $5 million in funds owed the state.

A total of 28 different agencies, boards and commissions have turned their bad-debt lists over to the controller's office for collection. Controller Kathy Augustine said her staff uses in-house collection and outside contractors to track down individuals and businesses who owe Nevada money.

She said using OSI Collection Services for the past two years has proven to be one of the most cost-effective ways to collect debt since most of the cost is passed on to the debtor.