Consumer complaint received 2019-04-04
Company: American First Finance, Inc.
State: WA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan

Complaint:
I had a loan that was a lease for furniture through American First Finance, a company I had used before and paid off in the 90 day window for an early payoff - free of additional charges. I could take the loan for 18 months at an extremely high interest rate or I could pay it off in 90 days, as before. 

The first week of XX/XX/2019, I asked for an accounting of payments, including my loan origination payment which was XX/XX/2019. It showed a prior payment but it was for a loan that did not get approved as I chose different furniture. Those payments show they were voided and my new contract started XX/XX/XXXX when the loan proceeds were paid out. 

I had paid roughly {$350.00} on my account and should have owed just over XXXX. But after all three payments, it showed I still owed {$1000.00}. Part of even that was disputed as I was charged {$200.00} to scotch guard a couch I never bought ( there was supposed to be a {$150.00} adjustment but never was ). 

Either way, I wanted to pay off the loan. On XX/XX/XXXX, approximately ten days before the 90 day payoff window ended, they told me I could not pay off the loan that I had to carry it out for 18 months. 

I only took at the lease/loan because I had the 90 day option to pay it off. It was the same option I had with them last time that I had no problem paying off.

I didn't get anywhere on the phone so I told them I wanted everything in writing so I'd have a record. I was told that would take 48 hours - yet there was never a response. 

The on the same day, they sent me a text threatening to send me to collections. Since my payment is due at the end of the month, this made no sense. I then got a message telling me to disregard. 

Finally I got a guy on the phone and explained that this isn't what I signed up for. He was very smug and told me " you owe us and you signed a contract ''. I explained that I signed a contract with a 90 day option. They said they re-wrote the contract to reflect a change in the purchase price and that my signature ( which is not really my signature but a font that mimics a signature ) was on file and I was obligated. In other words, they re-did the paperwork without my presence and changed the terms. They have never provided me with a copy of this modified contract, other than the accounting form that shows the loan origination on XX/XX/2019. 

All of this has gone too far. When someone can change my signature by using a stock font and tell me I agreed to something different, that is theft - because there is no way I would have agreed to that - nor did I allow any of their employees to sign on my behalf to any modified terms. 

I've done business with them before and this is not how things were - at all. 

Now I am being threatened because I want to pay it off in my 90 day window ... and they of course, would like for me to make 18 months of payments so instead of paying just over {$1000.00}, I would be paying {$2700.00} - almost three times as much.

I plan to file a formal complaint with the Washington State Attorney General if this continues. 

I should also note that they were not allowed to debit my bank account, but did so anyway.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation