SCIO - What initially seemed like a good way to make some extra money has become a financial hassle that Marla Edwards can't afford.

Edwards was searching for a business she could conduct at home and online. Working through Lease Finance Group, LLC, a Chicago-based company, she thought she had found what she wanted.

"They wanted my website to sell items online. Shoppers would be directed to my site to make a purchase. I was to get 60 percent and the rest would go to Lease Finance," said Edwards, 66, who lives on a small farm in Scio.

Edwards, a former home health care provider, signed an agreement that called for her to purchase a credit card processing machine. Within two weeks she changed her mind, deciding she did not want to be involved after all.

"I told them I wasn't interested and they said that was fine but I still had to pay for the machine even though I returned it," she said. "They said I had signed a contract for a three-year lease."

Edwards has paid nearly $1,000 on a machine she said lists for about $200 on Craigslist. Earlier this year she decided it was enough.

In March she stopped paying the monthly fee of $70.91.

"I couldn't pay it," Edwards said. "I have no job and I'm only getting Social Security. All I could do was default on the contract."

It hasn't stopped Lease Finance Group from calling and sending letters demanding more money.

Edwards has responded by contacting the attorney general's office and the Better Business Bureau.

"I can't afford it, but I guess I'm going to have to contact an attorney to fight this," she said.

Lease Finance Group is not an unfamiliar name at the Better Business Bureau, which gives it an F rating. The bureau has received nearly 800 complaints against the company since 2007.

Lease Finance contends it uses third party vendors to procure agreements and terms can't be altered.

In the last two years, the Oregon Attorney General's office has had 10 complaints against the company but in each case it lacks jurisdiction to enforce consumer protection laws with business-to-business transactions or the issue falls outside its law enforcement powers. It has forwarded many complaints to the Federal Trade Commission.

In the meantime, Edwards hopes others won't fall into the same trap.

"If nothing else," Edwards said, "I hope my experience can alert others about what scams are out there."