Consumer complaint received 2020-10-21
Company: ENOVA INTERNATIONAL, INC.
State: UT
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Payday loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020 I was desperate and in duress and applied for the payday loan at CashNetUSA. I gave them all of my information to see if I would even qualify. I then received a payday loan for {$550.00}. My " Advance request '' was deposited the same day. I received an email giving me my customer ID and loan amount. I didn't receive any other information regarding my loan. I had to submit a request to find out when my payments were due. They were due twice monthly and the payment amounts varied. I have never seen a statement from CashNetUSA, only reminder emails. 

I fell behind on my unknown payments and very quickly lost sight of the other end. When I asked the company, " How many payments do I need to pay to pay this off? '' They always responded, " We will not know until your next statement is generated. '' I recently asked how many payments based off my last statement and they had no answer for me. 

Their payment plans to " help '' you catch back up are generated for each overdue amount - meaning on top of my twice monthly charges, they would set up an additional payment plan for the overdue amount. I couldn't catch up and I frequently asked them to send me to collections. I couldn't keep up on the payments. I kept saying " I can not commit to payment '', " I can't afford this '', " I can't agree to this payment plan because I can not afford it on top of the payments. '' The most recent phone call, yesterday XX/XX/2020, I asked to be sent to collections and the representative told me that I was already in collections when the reality was I was in their internal collections. They knew what I meant. 

I have been recently coming out of XXXX that has been happening since before I got the loan and I asked the payment terms. How much I currently owe, which is {$1000.00}. I was told approximately {$650.00} of that was overdue fees and payments owed and approximately {$400.00} was what I still owed on my original loan. I could not believe that I have only contributed {$140.00} to my original loan. I have had frequent payments coming out of my account to satisfy their payment plans and was frequently over drafting my bank account. I was shocked and asked what the interest rate was. " 299 % '' I can not stress this enough, " 299 % '' They were asking me to sign on to a payment of {$160.00} a month ( that I was about to agree to ), they wouldn't tell me how many payments I would need to pay it off " until my next statement was generated. '' I can tell you how many payments I would need to pay it off - infinite. I could pay that the rest of my life, my children 's life, my grandchildren 's life, their children 's life, and forever. With the " payment plan '' they were using to " help me '' would have me in a position I could never pay it off. I had no idea that they were giving me such and incredible interest rate. I don't even have contract terms to look back on. 

I execute contracts for a living and in as much distress and duress I was under I can't imagine if I had seen those terms I would have EVER signed up for that loan. I have beat myself up since XX/XX/2020 that I signed up for a loan at all. I was between a rock and a hard place, scared. Now I realize if I had never come out of this fog I would have been paying this for the REST OF MY LIFE. No wonder I kept telling them that I couldn't afford this. I told them I was hopeless. I told them that I could never meet what they're asking off me and it's so clear why - it was impossible at any of the options they were giving me. At 299 % at the rate I was going was easily {$50.00} a week and growing that I was further indebted to them. 

They prey on people who are in a bad situation and need money, for whatever reason, charge them twice monthly, full well knowing that these people came to them because they were in a hard place, when people fall behind on payments they create new payment plans to " help '' them " catch back up '' and you " only '' need to pay a certain amount to do so when they are charging you horrific fees with a astronomic interest rate and not telling you how many payments they need for you to pay it off. They know you are taking a loan you will never, ever pay off. 

To break this down. I took out a {$550.00} loan, under duress from CashNetUSA, unknowingly at 299 %. My first minimum payment, charged bi-monthly, was {$67.00}. If I paid that twice a month my number of payments is infinity. My initial payments are too low to even cover the interest and not enough to ever pay off the loan. This company knows that and is taking advantage of people.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation