Consumer complaint received 2023-01-19
Company: Money Tree Lending
State: ID
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
Multiple complaints : Loan documents incredibly difficult to get after initial signing -- I have emailed and called to get a copy of the loan documents that I signed. Documents not available upon secure login to website. MoneyTree requires I go to a physical store to receive documents. However, they use online and digital forms to get signatures and initiate the loan, so making someone drive an hour to then wait another hour just to get a copy is intentionally obstructionist. They certainly allow someone to log in and redo the loan and, at that time, if you're willing to pay for a new loan, they'll show you the documents. 

Access to any form of ledger or accounting data is missing and can not be accessed. I have called, emailed, and otherwise asked for an accurate statement. They indicate they can not provide this either. Again, this information is available upon initiating the loan or paying to change the loan, but otherwise you can not see any of the information related to the loan. 

Inaccurate receipt provided. I made a payment ahead of schedule and then paid an additional amount ( {$200.00} ). The receipt provided doesn't add up mathematically and can not account for {$75.00}. When I inquire, they indicate, only verbally and will not do so in email exchanges, that this amount is for the loan origination fee. Okay, then why not put that in the receipt? Then I ask about the amount going to principal and they similarly will only answer over a call and convolute things. They use " daily fee '' and " interest '' interchangeably. But cite them in different ways when talking about how they are calculated. The daily fee on the contract is the exact same each day, so the calculations for interest can not be easily explained. I asked for a simple written schedule accurately reflecting payments, additional amounts, and how that impacts the terms. They won't/ca n't provide this. 

When I ask about why the daily fee, which is also the interest, is more than the original loan agreement, they indicate that the daily fee comes out first, and a pre -- payment then means they will first take out the interest ( daily fee ) and apply the rest to the principal. When I point out that the second payment includes the daily fee they took out and thus the new payment should not include the same daily fees, they indicate that it doesn't, but that the payment doesn't change. So, I inquire how that impacts the principal and if more goes toward the principal for subsequent payments, because the daily fees have been paid in advance at that point, and they can't answer me. 

I went into a physical location and sat for a couple of hours asking them to help. They tried, and the result was that they could not explain the way the fees were taken out or how that wasn't reflected in subsequent payments and the daily fees which were not scheduled to be paid for 2 more weeks, but which they took out first so that the amount didn't go to the principal. All of this MIGHT add up, but nobody can explain it and they absolutely refuse to put anything in writing or on a receipt. The fact they can't/wo n't provide a written copy with accurate accounting and a statement that reflects the new schedule, if changed, makes the loan completely blind and irreconcilable to the consumer and any accounting. They seem to be unbound in obscuring this information.

Unable to get a statement I can hand to an accountant and a reflection of accurate interest for the IRS. I need to be able to show the interest paid on the loan, because it was used for business reasons, and thus the interest paid is a loss per the IRS and accounting. But I can not get anything that shows amounts that are accurate or which add up. Even a simple receipt for my payment which was made with an extra amount doesn't add up correctly.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response