Consumer complaint received 2020-06-17
Company: Lending Club Corp
State: CA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan

Complaint:
During XXXX of 2020, I, like many others, was laid off due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. I turned to my lenders to seek relief to prevent any debt from going into delinquency. Every lender promptly put in place measures to easily allow consumers to seek the information and relief they are looking for. My experience with Lending Club has been very frustrating and unacceptable. 

Generic Info : Original Loan Amount : {$25000.00} Payment Amount : {$690.00} Term : 60 Months APR : 25.39 % It is worth to note that Lending Club didn't officially have a plan in place until XX/XX/XXXX and would basically dodge phone calls throughout XXXX by saying that you've reached the wrong department and would transfer you only to be routed back to the same department. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, however, Lending Club finally gave in and offered a Covid-19 relief program. This was definitely relieving to see and I went ahead and applied through their  website. The process at this point was fairly smooth. You answered a few questions and It gave you a 2 month payment deferment causing your loan term to extend also by 2 months. This makes sense as the payments basically get tagged on to the end. I able to defer my XXXX and XXXX Payment. My next XXXX date became XX/XX/XXXX and my new loan term was 62 months. 

Here is where things went wrong. As XX/XX/XXXX approached, I logged back into my account to see if I could request an additional month or two on my deferment as I was getting news that I wouldn't be able to start work until XXXX. All of my lenders had additional relief for an extra month or two for those who were still impacted by the pandemic. Lending Club, did so in the most predatory and disgusting way possible. When logging on in XXXX, the same prompts appeared like they did in XXXX. Asked if you were still impacted. But THIS time, the disclosures stated that the two month deferment would add an additional SEVEN months of payments to the end of the loan and additional interest charges of over {$4000.00}. This is absolutely unfair and sick. I wonder how many borrowers were tricked into thinking the deferment was going to be the same as the first time where two payments meant two extra months added to your loan term. This is not what you call continued relief, this is an attempt to get borrowers to agree to a crazy and irrational deferment where two payments worth {$690.00} each in my case meant an additional seven payments due at the end of the loan for a total of a 69 month loan term. Also, no updated Federal Truth In Lending disclosures for the whole loan was presented.

60 Month Term + 2 ( First two-month Deferment ) + 7 ( Second two-month Deferment ) No Deal! I obviously did not accept this and felt bad for anyone who didn't read the disclosures thinking they'd be the same. I decided to call Lending Club and discuss this matter as I am still in need of relief. When calling, I spoke to a representative who couldn't explain why they were charging such a hefty fee this time around and offered no other option but to accept the crazy terms. I asked " how come the first time it was a simple 2 month deferment = 2 month loan extension, and this time its not? He couldn't answer or explain how it mathematically makes sense. As someone who originates auto loans for a living, I am well aware how loans work. 

Throughout the entire crisis, Lending Club has been the worst. XXXX, misleading and probably illegal practices bring us here.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation