Consumer complaint received 2020-07-15
Company: Upstart Holdings, Inc.
State: NY
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
I reached out to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( a lending platform ) to ask for assistance for COVID relief or hardship. I sent an email to servicing. That is my preferred way of contact as they refuse to deal with my wife when she calls and that frankly, that really bothers me. They are the only lender we have every experienced this with so I refuse to call. However, I can verify many emails sent to them and we correspond fine. So, that is what I continue to do. As mentioned, on XX/XX/XXXX, I sent an email to, XXXX. I said the following : " I was affected by the stay at home order in XXXX. I have been home for going over two solid months and over three weeks ago now, I was informed that I had to accept a 10 % cut in salary. I started to contact most of my creditors this month asking for at least a months deferral. I paid in XXXX but I could use a break for XXXX. It is a lot and I am struggling to pay my bills. I am lucky that I did not lose my job like thousands of others. '' We received an email response from them promptly enough and we read the first paragraph. It clearly stated this : We understand that times may be difficult for you, and we'd like to help. 

Upstart does offer relief options for those financially impacted by COVID-19. Based on the information you provided, we have marked your account for temporary relief because you have been financially impacted by COVID-19. During the relief period ( 90 days from XX/XX/XXXX ), you can expect the following If your account becomes delinquent during the Relief Period, you will not be reported negatively to Credit Reporting Agencies, Late fees and returned ACH fees will be waived, If your account would normally have charged off during the Relief Period because it became over 120 days past due, it will not charge off, If your account becomes delinquent during the Relief Period, it will not be outsourced to a debt collector unless you were already placed with a collections agency prior to XX/XX/XXXX. 

That is all we needed to see and we thought we were okay. When looking at our alternate email a couple of nights ago we noticed we were getting warning emails about not paying our loan and that we were over 30 days past due!! Immediatley we reached out and they came back and told us that we never filled out the hardship form. What? You must be kidding me. Then why did it state in black and white that the account was being marked for relief?! We seen that and said ok. that's done. That is all we needed to see. 

Now I do see when looking further down that there was a mention of some form but it stated it we need " additional help. '' See below. 

" If you need additional support, Upstart has other temporary hardship programs related to COVID-19. You can request assistance by filling out this hardship assistance form online. You must be logged into your Upstart account in order to access the Hardship assistance form. '' Clearly this is a copy and paste form letter for their clients. Boiler-Plate. It did not say you must fill out a form in order to move forward with the hardship request. It did not say MUST. Why wasn't this flagged in some way and even if it was it is extremely misleading. Why wasn't I passed to the department who may have emailed me. I made the formal request. Furthermore I requested relief from XXXX. Not 90 days from XX/XX/XXXX!!. What are they even talking about? Where did they get XX/XX/XXXX from. Most of the country was not even shut down on XX/XX/XXXX. Why would they take it from there? 
So, now what? I got a hit on my credit report? I certainly hope not. I have had nothing but trouble with this company. I am totally fed up with them. this is the last straw. My credit better not have been marred by them. I told them this as well. It is an unprofessional, sloppy operation and these are the same people who will not speak to a spouse on the phone even when the loan holder is giving permission. They are a total mess. 

XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation