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Bad dog leasing company, bad!

A California company that provided financing to Massachusetts residents who wanted to lease rather than buy dogs has agreed to stop that because it's illegal to rent pets here, according to a settlement agreement filed in Suffolk Superior Court today.

According to a settlement with the state Attorney General's office, Monterey Financial Services of Oceanside, CA, was financing 211 dog leases in Massachusetts as of Oct. 29, 2021, with a total loan value of $710,335.20.

In signing the agreement, the company admitted no violations of anything, ever, but said it will simply hand over ownership of the dogs to the current lessees. It also agreed to help a number of residents fix their credit reports, damaged when the company began doggedly pursuing them for payments not made.

The company also agreed to pay $175,000 to Massachusetts residents who wound up paying more on their loans than their "products" were initially worth and $50,000 to the Attorney General's office. The state will use its money to monitor the payments and credit aid to affected consumers and for general consumer education.

The state reached similar agreements with two other dog leasers last year.

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Comments

I'm putting a lien on the dog and holding out for a Range Rover.

/s

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Voting closed 32

Stand up! Good dog.

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Voting closed 13

$710K in loan value for 211 dogs…. Just sayin’

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Voting closed 10

Because we all know hot the market is for labs in eastern Massachusetts.

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Voting closed 57

We got one two years ago and it was a difficult and expensive process.

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Voting closed 12

NVM. This thread gives me chest pains.

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Voting closed 26

Thanks for letting me see the light!

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Voting closed 12

Both the lab and the retriever part work for a pun about eastern MA rental dogs.

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Voting closed 7

If your dog donates blood for research purposes, it becomes a life science lab. My lab-mix (mixed use lab?) just became far more valuable.

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Voting closed 8

but wouldn't say she was a dog.

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Voting closed 11

Domestic animal trafficking.

"Leash to own?" (slurring drunk)
To each his/her/their own.

But not in the commonwealth.
I dunno... I guess I'm a lowbrow for wanting a shelter dog via lots of visits first to find one where we're mutually willing to bond.

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Voting closed 12

my entire life blissfully ignorant of the fact that pet leasing was even something that existed, much less something that is legal in most states. (I am aware of the designer dog and purebred puppy mill industry, but still.)

Utterly disgusting on every level.

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Voting closed 54

no one ever paid for a dog, and virtually all the dogs we saw in most Boston neighborhoods were mongrels. Strange people in places like Beacon Hill and parts of Milton would have wimpy pure bred dogs, but they were no good for playing.

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Voting closed 19

Try, just try, to be a little less judgemental.

Some people want a specific type of dog for various reasons. Very good reasons. There's no reason to shit on people because they spend a few bucks on a pooch they want.

FWIW, I have volunteered at a local animal shelter for ~20 years and encourage people to adopt. However, the most important consideration when getting a dog is to get the dog you want. There are all types of dogs with all sorts of personalities and all sorts of other traits. Figure out what kind of dog would fit into your life and look for that dog.

One of the best pieces of advice I've heard is to adopt a 1-year-old or older dog. The dog has grown to its adult size and you know what you're getting - mostly. And this is exactly the reason people like to get a dog from a reputable breeder.

I've seen too many people return an adopted dog because they simply chose the wrong dog for them.

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Voting closed 5

I was being facetious, although the majority mongrel part is true. I admire your work, and actually love dogs, including the expensive ones. Good recommendation for adopting year old or older dog.

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Voting closed 8

Is my rent a kid business idea off the table?

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... have to imagine there'd be a line of folks ready to sign up Spawn for a little cash flow.

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Voting closed 12

Somewhere an idiot said “it will be the Uber of dogs!”

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Voting closed 9