Consumer complaint received 2023-09-11
Company: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA
State: IN
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem with additional add-on products or services

Complaint:
My sister and I are XXXX XXXX. She and I care for our Father who is of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), whose health is compromised, and who suffers from XXXX XXXX Our Father is a XXXX XXXX  so, for his safety, my sister and I decided that a bathtub to shower renovation needed to be done immediately! We contacted several companies that advertise shower renovations completed in as little as one day. In the late afternoon of XX/XX/2023, a sales representative from a bath renovation company visited us at our home. He took us through a very lengthy and tiresome 2 1/2-hour presentation during which time he asked what was most important to us regarding the renovation. Naturally, price was important. My sister and I didnt care about the aesthetic appeal of the new shower, nor were we the least bit interested in any increased resale value the new shower might add to our home. We told the representative that the renovation was intended for our XXXX XXXX Father and that due to his age and special needs, the speed of completing the renovation was paramount. My sister and I insisted on a start date of no later than 4 weeks. The sales rep countered with a start date of 12 weeks. For the sake of our Fathers safety my sister and I held on to the urgency of starting the job NO LATER THAN 4 WEEKS or there was no sense in continuing with the presentation. The representative asked us to wait a second while he made a phone call to his project supervisor. Afterwards, he gave us the great news that our project would be completed within our requested time limit of 4 weeks. My sister and I decided on a shower design and accessories and negotiated a final price for the project. Three more times during the negotiation, my sister and I asked for and were reassured by the representative that our project would begin NO LATER THAN 4 WEEKS FROM THAT DAY! We felt that the final price was ridiculously high. Since our father is an XXXX XXXX XXXX and the sales representative gave his solemn promise of a 4-week start date, only then did my sister and I agree to go through with the sale. We told the representative that we had an excellent relationship with our credit union and would obtain a 3-year, low interest loan. The salesperson told us he was also an authorized third-party representative of GreenSky and started pushing the benefits of 15-year financing through GreenSky instead of getting a credit union loan. The representative boasted that his clout with GreenSky enabled him to get practically ANYONE financed through GreenSky as long as they have an XXXX XXXX credit score over XXXX. My sister and I sensed the XXXX and ageist overtones in his statement given that our hair is gray, our skin is XXXX, we live in a city thats 91 % Non-White, and with a 33.1 % poverty level which is 159 % higher than the U.S. average, and in a neighborhood mostly comprised of abandoned properties and dilapidated buildings. I assured the representative that my sister and I wouldnt have a problem getting a loan at our credit union. I showed him proof of my near perfect XXXX XXXX XXXX score of XXXX and my sister 's XXXX XXXX score of XXXX ( Please see attached documents A & B ). In his effort to control every aspect of the sale, and to get our signatures on the dotted line right then and there, he said that if we didn't complete the deal that night ( the sale and the financing ), it would make it necessary for him to come back a second time and we would lose the {$1000.00} discount he'd given us. Additionally, he said wed lose the project start date of 4-weeks from that day as hed guaranteed. My sister and I were exhausted, and our father had gone unfed and hygienically unattended to for the entire time the sales representative had been in our home. We surrendered and gave him our personal information. He also said that he needed a {$1000.00} deposit on our credit card which we gave him AFTER he assured us again that there absolutely wouldnt be a problem for our project to begin no later than 4 weeks from that day ( which would have been by XX/XX/XXXX ). The remaining balance for our project was {$16000.00} ( Please see enclosed document # 1 ). The representative told us that GreenSky had approved us for up to {$20000.00}, so why was it still necessary for us to put {$1000.00} on our credit card?? On XX/XX/XXXX, we received a call from the bath renovation company project coordinator to verify the shower style and accessories my sister and I decided upon. We were again reassured of a 4-week start project start date. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX weeks from the sale date, we received a billing statement from GreenSky showing that a transaction was charged to our account on XX/XX/2023 ( which was the same date that the sales rep came to our home ), in the amount of {$7500.00}, and demanding that a payment be made in the amount of {$72.00} ( of which {$41.00} was accrued interest ). According to the statement the payment was due no later than XX/XX/2023 ( Please see attached documents # 2 & 2a ). Up to that point my sister and I were {$8500.00} in debt and with nothing to show for it. This was beyond the pale. Not only had our project not been started during that time period as promised by the sales rep, we also hadnt heard from anyone at the bath renovation company since the XX/XX/XXXX follow-up call from our project manager. My sister and I feared that if we made the {$72.00} payment, we'd be locked into the entirety of GreenSky 's contract even though the service we expected hadnt been performed. What was equally worrisome was that even though we hadn't received the service we were promised, if we didn't make the payment to GreenSky by the XXXX XXXX due date, our stellar credit scores that my sister and I had built and nurtured for decades would plummet drastically! We weren't about to be pressured into paying for a service that we were promised but hadn't received. On XX/XX/XXXX we called both GreenSky and the bath renovation company to express our extreme dissatisfaction with the circumstances which lead up to the sale. We first spoke to a GreenSky CSR named XXXX who advised us that an advocate would contact us by Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX XXXX  An Executive Vice President from the bath renovation company reached out to us later in the morning of XX/XX/XXXX. We told the EVP about the promise of a 4-week project start date the sales representative gave us on XX/XX/XXXX. The EVP was forthright, and his honesty was very refreshing. He said that the representative should NEVER have made us that promise because all of the company 's representatives were made aware of the severe backlog his company was experiencing in getting material, that there were SEVERAL other projects ahead of ours that were held up for months because of that, and with no reasonable estimate of when those projects ahead of ours would be started. The bath renovation company EVP apologized sincerely for the representative 's misrepresentation of the companys ability to deliver on his promise and the inconvenience it caused us. The EVP offered to rescind our contract with his company and to cancel our entire loan with GreenSky as well. The EVP refunded to GreenSky the {$7500.00} that GreenSky advanced to his company on XX/XX/XXXX. Let us be clear. My sister and I have no problem with the bath renovation company and hold the company harmless. The bath renovation company EVP apparently rescinded our contract due to breach of contract in that the EVP knew that his company could not complete or follow its responsibilities as outlined and promised in the contract by the sales representative. The EVP also refunded my sister and I the {$1000.00} deposit that was charged to our credit card, thereby making my sister and I whole with respect to our contract with his company. On XX/XX/XXXX, we received two emails from GreenSky. The first one assigned a reference number to our case ( Please see attached document # XXXX ), and the subsequent email indicated that the entire GreenSky loan balance of {$7500.00} had been canceled ( Please see attached document # 4 ). 
Additional documentation from GreenSky dated XX/XX/2023, and XX/XX/2023, further confirm that the loan was canceled ( Please see attached documents # 5 & # 5a ). 
Subsequent communications with GreenSky detailed our wish to have the GreenSky tradeline removed from all 3 of our major credit reports and the corresponding GreenSky inquiry removed from our XXXX credit report, which was updated on XX/XX/2023 ( Please see attached document # 6 ). We felt this to be a more than reasonable request given the deceptive way the inquiry was obtained. We've spoken to GreenSky CSR Department numerous times since but were repeatedly denied our request to have the inquiry removed. Although those CSRs were cordial and very empathic to our situation, they said that they didnt have the ability to remove GreenSkys inquiry. Finally, I asked to speak with a GreenSky manager and was contacted by XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2023, at XXXX XXXX  XXXX. After identifying myself and advising her that my sister was also on the phone, she advised us that call was being recorded and invited me to go ahead or start talking. I asked if she had taken time to familiarize herself with our case number and particular concern. Thank God, the call was recorded. XXXX XXXX proved to be argumentative, evasive, condescending, dishonest, and accusatory. I tried to establish a dialogue with XXXX XXXX by asking her a question where the obvious answer was yes, thus setting the stage for her, my sister and I to have an open, sincere, and fair discussion there-on. Instead, XXXX XXXX chose to sidestep my question and engaged in the act of blaming my sister and I for the situation the authorized GreenSky third-party representative had put us in and refused to remove the inquiries from our XXXX credit reports. XXXX XXXX displayed a contemptuous attitude toward my sister and me. I told her that there was no need for my sister and I to try to reason with her in that she made it glaringly obvious that she had predetermined NOT to consider ANYTHING my sister and I had to say. My sister and I fell victim to an unfair and deceptive sales tactic by an authorized GreenSky third-party representative. Yet, XXXX XXXX declared that WE actively sought credit with GreenSky. XXXX XXXX further stated that we willingly signed the application for credit. Although GreenSky closed our account and willingly expunged its tradeline from our credit reports, the inquiry will remain on our XXXX credit reports. One can analogize our experience with GreenSkys authorized third-party representative to that of a woman who's pursued by an over-zealous man to go on a date with him. The woman has misgivings and expresses her concerns to the man. Still, the man continues in his pursuit of her, telling the woman that shes missing out on the time of her life. The man swears that hes a nice guy, promising the woman that she has nothing to worry about and that she'll be treated with nothing but utmost respect. Finally, and still with some caution, the woman gives in to the mans determination and agrees to go on a date with him. Unfortunately for the woman, the man turns out not to be the nice guy he swore to be and assaults the woman at the end of their date. The woman reports the assault to whom she believes to be the proper authorities. Instead of arresting the man, the authorities chastise the woman for filing a complaint. The woman is also blamed for instigating the incident because she agreed to date the man in the first place. The authorities therefore deemed the incident as mutual consent between both parties and NOT an act of assault on the mans part. The womans allegation of assault was dismissed by the authorities, leaving her to suffer humiliation and damage to her reputation. This is the dilemma plaguing my sister and me ( the woman ), brought on by GreenSkys authorized third-party representative ( the man ), GreenSky and XXXX XXXX ( the proper authorities ), and GreenSkys inquiry ( the date and ensuing damage to our reputation. )

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief