Consumer complaint received 2020-05-12
Company: Social Finance, Inc.
State: DE
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Getting a loan
Sub-issue: Denied loan

Complaint:
I am writing to you to raise a concern about the application process that resulted in my application for a student loan refinance being denied after having been originally pre-qualified. The process was quite frankly humiliating and predatory because of the lack of response/awareness of SOFIs customer service team. I detail my experience because I believe this is a failure that shouldnt be repeated with other customers. 

Application for Student Loan Refinance. I applied for a refinance of my student loan online at www.sofi.com on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$10000.00}. My motivation for doing this is that my credit has improved since I first received the original loan, and I wanted to decrease my interest rate. I received an immediate response from SOFI that I was pre-qualified to refinance my loan with a new rate of 4.864 %, with a monthly payment of approx. {$200.00} for 5 years, and I was asked to provide my checking account information for payment of my monthly payment ( Attachment 1 ). I was very happy with these terms and looked forward to completing this process. 

On the week of XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted SOFI several times, to provide things like my paystub, and also to inquire about 2 missed calls that I had from SOFI that week ( the calls came in when I was working ). However, every time that I reached customer service, I was informed that there were no actions items for me to complete, and that the application was being reviewed. I was patient, until by surprise on Saturday XX/XX/XXXX I received a notification via email that my loan application was denied. At first, the letter did not specify a reason for this denial and instead to contact SOFI for the reasoning behind this. 

After contacting customer service, the system stated that my application was denied because my identity could not be verified. I was shocked, since in the 5 exchanges I had with customer service agents that week, none of them informed me that SOFI needed to confirm my identity.

Predatory/Deceptive Practices by SOFI. After receiving this notification, I called again and specifically asked about the problem with verifying my identity. The SOFI customer agent stated that because I have an identity fraud alert in my credit profile ( my information was indeed hacked in the famed XXXX  XXXX XXXX of XXXX and subsequently found in the dark web ), SOFI needed to verify my identity. But because I did not pick up the phone when SOFI called, the system had automatically denied my application and there was no way to recall this application even though I was ready to provide whichever verification was needed. Then the customer service agent told me the only way to re-start the process was to complete a new application. I was concerned but re-applied, but here comes the kicker : I was denied. 

Conclusion. As a consumer, the lack of response from SOFI, by keeping my in the dark, and by the mixed messages that I received from customer service agents that somehow lacked the proper training to understand my application and convey accurate information about what was needed resulted in my first application being denied, and subsequently, after denying my application and telling me that because of this I needed to submit a new application, I was denied again really impacted me emotionally. 

I had a lot pending in this restructuring of my debts, and to me it feels SOFI took me for a ride. The situation that forced the denial of my first application, and then deceived me into believing I just needed to re-apply when in reality an automatic denial was waiting for me ( we dont event need to pull your credit a second time I was told by the customer service agent in an effort to convince to reapply ). 

All of this feels predatory, and even much more so when it touches my financial well-being. SOFI markets to young professionals like myself with messages in your website that there arent Hidden fees, No Catch and Fast/Easy/All Online Applications. Well in my case, SOFi ran a hard credit pull, bated me into applying twice, and the process was far from fast, easy or fully online. 

Very Respectfully, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation