Consumer complaint received 2022-09-22
Company: Upstart Holdings, Inc.
State: MD
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Getting the loan

Complaint:
In the last two days I have received two emails from Upstart marketing a {$300.00} gift card to XXXX for obtaining a loan. The terms and conditions state that you must check your rate by using the button on the email, get your offers, get funded, make your first payment by your due date and then you will receive the {$300.00} XXXX gift card. While there are disclosures at the bottom that state that your loan amount/offer is dependent on certain factors, there is nothing that states not everyone is eligible for a loan. Its never explicitly stated that you could be declined. Whats provided is, Your loan amount will be determined based on your credit, income, and certain other information provided in your loan application. Not all applicants will qualify for the full amount. This is problematic by itself but also because the language used in the marketing piece also has additional guaranteeing language. We know that interest rates are rising and the economy is unpredictable. And were here to help. Take the first step towards financial security by using a fixed interest rate personal loan to consolidate high-interest credit card debt or pay off bills. This is understood as, Upstart is there to help with financial struggles you are having by helping you secure a personal loan. by any reasonable consumer. I also believe XXXX XXXX dictates that the first mention of a rate in any marketing material requires that the rate is referred to as the annual percentage rate if there are fees involved with loan consummation, such as an origination fee. However, no one would know that from the marketing piece. They also wouldnt know what loan terms are actually available because the only triggering term listed is the loan amount range, but not the APR range or term range. 

This brings me to my next issue - Upstart does not actually allow you to reapply. You click on the link in the email as required to receive the {$300.00} XXXX gift card, but then you are brought to a Home Screen that says you are ineligible for a loan. Since a credit decision has seemingly been made despite having put in no information ( or being able to edit previous application information you might have put in the last time you applied ), Upstart states you can see the reason you were declined in your message inbox. Upon clicking the link for that, you can view many adverse action notices but none are actually from the last year. How was a credit decision made if the consumer wasnt provided an opportunity to actually review or input the application information? How does a consumer edit application information if Upstart is going to make a credit decision? Essentially Upstart  is discouraging people from applying due to their system limitations- XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX are just a few issues with this situation. Its extremely frustrating and misleading. 

I have attached a few screenshots of the email marketing and I also have a video of my screen as I attempt to apply to receive the {$300.00} XXXX gift card that can not be uploaded due to file size restrictions. I would love to email it to someone so it can be assessed with this complaint. You will clearly see there is no way to edit application information or truly see if you were actually declined and if so, why. ( You will also notice that Upstart had an adverse action notice issue in XXXX of XXXX that it took them until XX/XX/XXXX to remediate. Again, XXXX XXXX. )

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation