Complaints

BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints.  On 6/8/2022, BBB submitted a written request to the company encouraging them to address the pattern of complaints. As of 8/4/2022, BBB has received a sufficient response from the business with a plan to alleviate the pattern. As of 4/6/2023, business has not alleviated the pattern of complaints.  

 

• consumers allege that they were approved for loans that they did not apply for

“We’ve recently introduced changes that will automatically decline customer’s applications should they match our
internal fraud indicator algorithmic checks. This change has immediately resulted in us rejecting 5-10% of
applicants, prior to any credit check being run. Further changes have also been made in the customer journey
regarding the collecting of banking information and identity verification which has resulted in a further 19%
reduction in credit checks run.”

 
 • consumers allege that their credit was checked without applying for a loan or prior contact with business

“Moving from hard inquiry searches to soft searches for our co-signers. We understand that despite our warnings,
borrowers will often name a co-signer and ‘test’ them out for pre-approval prior to having had a conversation with
them, resulting in an unauthorized hard inquiry credit search. Whilst we currently warn borrowers that agreeing to
this check without permission from the co-signer is an offense, it is clear that this warning does not stop this
behavior entirely. Moving towards a soft-search will limit the damage these searches could have on co-signers
where borrowers have signed them up prematurely.

The addition of further checks against the cards that are added to verify the information matches the applicants
details.”

 • consumers allege automatically being signed up and charged $5 for the Credit Builder program without authorization

“We have also made changes to our Credit Builder sign up journey, as we recognized that consumers were moving
through the application process without fully reading the information provided to them on page. Last month we
made formatting changes to the page to further highlight important terms in an attempt to better clarify the
product the customer is entering into including the price, frequency, and benefits of the product. Other changes we
plan to make to solve this problem include:

The addition of monthly payment reminders to our Credit Builder customers so that they are fully aware of when
and how their scheduled payments will be made. Currently customers get reminded of their first 2 repayments only.

Expanding our communication with Credit Builder consumers from email alone, to email and SMS, where
appropriate, as we recognize that emails could be getting caught in Spam filters”

 • consumers allege being signed up as co-signer without knowledge or authorization

"Whilst it is possible that their details may be provided to us without their consent, that is just the nature of being an online lender as mentioned in our initial email. We have various checks in place to ensure that is as far as it could possibly go such as credit file inquiry. We would never pay a loan out without verifying their identity and their address first. This also helps us confirm that it was in fact they who provided their details to be a co-signer and agree to the terms and conditions of the loan.

Our verification checks do not end there, even after this we have fraud prevention methods in place with regards to where the funds are paid which also allows the co-signer another opportunity to be 100% certain that they would like to proceed with the loan. We provide an opportunity to the co-signer a simple way of not proceeding, should they not be certain they would like to continue."