Consumer complaint received 2016-04-23
Company: Social Finance, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Shopping for a loan or lease

Complaint:
Good day. I am writing to make a complaint about SoFi, a lending company based in XXXX XXXX, CA. This company has deceptive practices as well as does not follow the letter of the law with regards to offering financial services, qualifying a borrower and lending based off the provability of the borrower. 

My journey started when I applied with SoFi for a {$25000.00} personal loan. My application was submitted approximately XXXX10 days ago. I completed and uploaded everything requested from this company. About XXXX7 days later, I called to inquire about the status of my application. At that time, I was told that " no one had looked at it yet and it would be assigned right away. '' Based off the conversation I had with the representative, I did not feel comfortable. At this point, I saw on the site the CEO of the company lists to email him directly with any feedback about the process. I did just that and also listed out my experience in lending and asked, based off what they " advertise '' that they look beyond a few factors I know that would come up. No it is not bad credit ( XXXX score ), it is not BK 's or foreclosures - it is the overuse of credit recently and inquiries. I knew this and reported it to the CEO himself. I was not concerned about my qualifications of the fact I have the availability to repay. 

After sending this email, someone was finally assigned to my loan. At first, the woman on the phone did not understand my bonus / commission income. I was asked to send my employment contract and that she would " talk to a manger '' to see if they could do it. This morning, I got the call. " XXXX XXXX, you are approved. We worked everything out with your income, we can use it. I just need you to email you XXXX and XXXX XXXX 's. '' They had everything else, they just needed to documentation. 

Once I uploaded all I had, I received a call back from SoFi. This time XXXX was on the phone. XXXX said, " XXXX XXXX, I am sorry but we are not able to give you a loan. I know we just told you that you are approved, however since we received your email we changed our minds. '' Basically, because I was real and transparent with the CEO, they decided to cancel my loan and say " I do n't qualify. '' When I said, " I guess I should n't have sent that email '' she proceeded to say, " Yeah, you should n't have. '' After this, I received the " you are denied '' email and then I requested the adverse action. In that they list my excessive debt to income ratio. So I went from " you should n't have emailed the CEO to my debt to income is too high '' ALL this after I was told I was approved. 

As you can see from my email attached, I was very transparent. They pulled my credit, it was a XXXX and my income based off the call I got this morning was " acceptable and you are approved. '' I have been in XXXX 18yrs. I understand things happen. In this instance, there is nothing here for them to deny my loan. They basically are discriminating against me because I emailed the CEO. I do n't want people to get hurt anymore. Shallow promises are not what our country is about. I am a veteran XXXX, I live by honor and commitment. This company has none of these XXXX. 

I have attached documents for your review. Please feel free to contact me for a personal interview if needed. 

I would also like to point out, based off the XXXX C 's of lending ( Credit, Collateral and Capacity to repay ), none of these are negative for them to deny my application for credit. They have shown me no proof of such and are in direct violation of the CFPB 's rules about discriminating against a consumer that qualifies for a loan.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation