Consumer complaint received 2022-10-03
Company: Above Lending, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I enrolled into XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  who promised to help me in debt settlement/resolution. During the COVID XXXX pandemic I was put in a position where I was unable to stay above water. My credit cards and loans all fell past due. XXXX XXXX enrolled {$48000.00} of debt into a program which was to be resolved. I agreed to make monthly payments into a dedicated account in the amount of {$310.00}. I noticed that I was getting charges from XXXX  XXXX  for {$10.00} ( Dedicated account fee ) and a {$14.00} fee that I believe was for some legal fee. XXXX XXXX was confident that they would reduce my debt to {$26000.00}. I continued to make my monthly payments of {$310.00} to start saving up for settlements. XX/XX/XXXX I saved enough for my first settlement for a XXXX account in the amount of {$680.00} ( original amount {$960.00} ). I reviewed the account and noticed another unexpected charge of {$160.00}. I called in to discuss this and I was told that XXXX XXXX charges 25 % of the enrolled debt as a fee for settling the account. I was not told this upfront but I was already enrolled so there was nothing I could do about this. I continued making payments. XX/XX/XXXX I was contacted by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Above lending. Above lending offered me a loan to cover the remaining balance I needed to get ALL of my credit accounts settled. At the time this was a miracle and I was hopeful that I could put the debt behind me. They promised to fund my dedicated account and ensured me that the conditions of settlement would be the lower my overall debt, get me out of debt faster, AND they would negotiate the negative remarks on my credit report. I was told my payment would be slightly higher to reduce the debt faster. I was under the impression that they monthly payment would increase to {$450.00}. This was not the case, I was getting charged {$450.00} bi-weekly, {$900.00} a month. I contacted Above Lending and they did not do anything to help me. I can barley afford to pay my rent let alone tack on a {$900.00} month payment that came with XXXX number of payments. I worked hard to make priority to make this payment with he hopes that soon it would all be put behind me. After I was funded this amount, XXXX XXXX continued to negotiate. Some of my accounts I ended up owing more than the original debt enrolled into the program. I was trapped. There was no option I had except eat the cost. I have made about 5 payments to Above Lending now and I started to notice that the Loan amount was increasing. So I contacted them to figure out why my original loan amount was not decreasing. This is when I discovered that Above lending charged me {$34000.00}, this is the finance charge - The dollar amount the credit will cost me. I stopped my auto payments to Above lending. I called them to discuss how this charge exceeded the debt I originally owed by over {$22000.00}. If I continued to make monthly payments of {$900.00} for the XXXX payments, I would be paying a total of {$70000.00} at the end of all of this. I was in a vulnerable state looking for help and I was tricked and scammed into debt higher than I could ever imagine. Both of these companies scammed me into thinking this program and solution was in my best interest, it clearly is not. I have contacted Above Lending , Inc. more than once and they keep passing me along to people who do not seem to have a solution for me. I joined this program because of the stress and finical challenge I was facing only to be trapped in a situation of even more hardship. These companies leave out crucial details and pacify you by telling you lies. I am a victim of a major finical scam and I was preyed on when I was in my most stressed vulnerable state. I am searching for help and options to help me correct this HUGE mistake I made joining this extremely deceptive debt solution program. Please help me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation