Consumer complaint received 2021-05-29
Company: Lending Club Corp
State: PA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
I've had a loan with Lending Club for a few years now with no issues. Until COVID19 hit. 
We, like 99 % of people had a hard time with finances so we contacted them. They were so kind and understanding and helpful and told us that we could defer our payments for a certain amount of time under their " hardship '' program. And like many others, we struggled all year and continue to try and recover from the horrors of the past 15 months. 
We did their " hardship '' the maximum amount of times allowed and was told that it would not negatively affect our credit or account and there were no late fee 's. Awesome. Not Our monthly payment with them is {$690.00} for 3 years, due on the XXXX of each month Our last 2 payments were made out of grace period but still within the time frame so it wouldn't be sent to credit reporting agencies. 

I was making my payment on XX/XX/XXXX and looked at my payment history. That's when I noticed that the past NINE payment we made, since XXXX of XXXX, the entire {$690.00} went towards INTEREST ONLY. Not one cent went toward the principal! 

I immediately contacted them via chat and asked about it and they said, yes that was correct because of the deferments. I asked if my payment that I just made would be applied towards any principal and I was told NO, that I still owed {$900.00} in INTEREST! 
I have paid $ 5,000+ since XXXX of XXXX and NONE has been applied to principal so now my loan balance is SIGNIFICANTLY more than it was. 

How is this " hardship '' program helpful?? I have NO idea when any of my payments will ever be applied to my principal I'll be paying forever at this point while someone is getting rich I'll still be struggling. 

I asked if the loan could be restructured and I was told the only way to do that would be to reapply for an additional loan in the amount that I already owe. I did. I was denied. 

Isn't this illegal?!? I really doubt that the government meant for companies to further inundate consumers with HUGE debt like this! Again, this is morally corrupt and is financially fraudulent! I am not the only one who has complained about this, there are others on Consumer Affairs website, yes I've placed a complaint there and with XXXX. 

Lending Clubs website has all of these " reviews '' from customers, yet I am a customer and can't find where to post a review! I believe their reviews are also fraudulent. 

I am asking for this to be investigated and resolved! They are literally stealing money from people with no end in sight. NONE of us had any control over what happened since last XXXX! None of us had a choice in anything! I was a good paying customer, never late, paid more than was due and this happens now. It has RUINED my credit, and my finances and has caused me even more stress than before! 

Please help stop them from doing this. This is the only company that has done this to us! We've had hardship programs with almost every credit card, our mortgage company and our vehicle loan and NONE of them were like this! NONE of them hammered us with interest hand of fist until we were buried so deep there's no light at the end of the tunnel for us. This should NOT be ALLOWED! No one EVER told us, in over 15 months of going through this that when we made our payments that ALL of it would be applied ONLY TO INTEREST FIRST and NOTHING to principal! NO ONE EVER SAID THAT. It's deceitful and they took advantage of people during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. They got rich while we got poorer.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation