Consumer complaint received 2021-08-07
Company: Upgrade, Inc.
State: NJ
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Getting a line of credit

Complaint:
Beginning on XX/XX/2021 I responded to an email promotion saying I was pre-approved for a loan to consolidate my credit card debt. After completing the process and provided detailed personal and financial information, my loan was put into review and I was given a discounted interest rate in exchange for " Upgrade '' sending payments directly to my credit card company. I agreed and provided access to my XXXX XXXX and XXXX credit card accounts in addition to my personal checking account, where the remainder of the balance would be deposited. 

I was told to wait 3-5 business days and after that period, seeing no deposits, requests for additional information or payoffs, I called and waited nearly twenty minutes to speak with a customer service agent. I was told, after a significant wait that everything was fine and my application would be sent to an underwriter. I was to wait 1-4 business days. I waited, noting came about and I called, repeating the exact same process. 

After that period seeing no deposits, requests for additional information or payoffs, I called on XX/XX/XXXX and was on hold for 45 minutes. I spoke with an agent, calmly explained my frustrations and asked him to fix the issue or withdraw my application. I was told the problem was my checking account number on the forms I filled out required a preceding set of " 4 '' zeros to match the submitted documents. I asked the agent to be very specific with me and to walk me through every step of correcting the issue. I again reiterated that if this was not successful I wanted to withdraw my application. He then told me to wait 1-4 business days, a request I balked at. I again explained to him the trouble I had been through to get this far, that I had turned down other offers of credit on the promise that everything would work out with " Upgrade '', to which he responded that he would expedite the process to an underwriter. After 58 minutes I got off the phone with absolute assurances that nothing further would be required of me. 

After waiting in excess of 1-4 business days there was no deposits, requests for additional information or payoffs and I again called customer service, waited on hold and spoke with an agent. I immediately explained the situation and told him that I wanted to cease the application process and use a different lender. This CSR then guaranteed the issue would be resolved after he transferred the application to his workload. I told him that I was aware this was a recorded line, and that I was only allowing him until the end of that day to resolve the issue because he was confident and assured me of his ability to resolve the issue. This was XX/XX/XXXX. 

There has been a wait of over 1 hour to speak with an agent everyday since XX/XX/XXXX, despite calling in the morning, afternoon and early evening during business hours. As of XX/XX/XXXX I have not been able to get through to customer service. Wait times still exceed 1 hour. I sent an email on XX/XX/XXXX, the day before my last called into customer service successfully. In it I expressed the same sentiment, that I wanted to withdraw my application and that I believed they made the loan offer in bad faith. The automated response told me I would get a reply in 3-5 days. As of XXXX XX/XX/2021, I have not received a response and no deposits, requests for additional information or payoffs have been applied to my accounts. 

I do not believe they have the capability to offer the services and products proposed and accepted by consumers and ; they do not have adequate customer service to properly administer these accounts. Not only that, but not once was I asked to provide additional or corrective information without me prompting the interaction. I am sure if I was not involved this would have dragged on for several weeks. This leads me to believe the sensitive information and access I and other consumers submitted could easily be compromised or misused. I believe they falsely advertised their services and lied to me several times despite absolute assurances and my multiple requests to stop the process.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief