Consumer complaint received 2018-05-21
Company: Lending Club Corp
State: MD
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan

Complaint:
If I only knew then what I know now ... credit debt was mounting, my Mom was laid off, my Grandmother needed help financially, and both still do. I chose to be a prosecutor. My pay scale was pretty low in comparison to others I'd graduated with. I qualified for the Federal Law that would pay off the remainder of my student loans. Only I didn't, the way it was set up, people like me will never see a dime. You'd had to have consolidated with a specific lender and made payments on time for 10 years. I'd made the payments and stated I'd be willing to transfer the loan over to the designated lender. Trick was, the 10 year clock started all over again, and at a higher interest rate. What a joke! I've been paying on time since XXXX. XXXX is the 1st time I was forced to ask for and be granted a forbearance. XXXX just sold my student loans to another institution and I'm not even sure who that institution is. My father took ill in XXXX and passed in XXXX. I was, and still am, taking care of 3 households. I took the loan in the hopes of improving my credit score and I was desperate. Just because you're an attorney doesn't mean that you are impervious to being a victim. I took out a personal loan with Lending Club. I have attached all of the documents. The interest rate is/was INSANE. Almost 30 %, but out of desperation I did it. There were emails from Lending Club on a regular basis telling me to re-apply for a new loan. This was under the guise that I would be able to essentially refinance the personal loan and obtain a lower interest rate. I tried several times at their prompting. I was denied each time and each time I re-applied, my credit score went down further because of the additional inquiries. They even told me it was because I was using the same email address as my current account. They told me to reapply using a different email address for the balance owed on the original loan. This way, I could pay it off, and continue making payments at a lower interest rate. That was on the phone and via chat on their website. I have attached what little I had left from Lending Club to this complaint. I contacted Lending Club directly and attempted to negotiate a new lower interest rate. The payments were over {$600.00} per month. They refused to even discuss it and shut me down immediately. I ended up going to XXXX, a debt settlement company, hoping to avoid bankruptcy. They told me they'd take care of everything, that in a few years everything will be much better. Stupidly, I signed with them. They began negotiations on my behalf. I had 2 accounts with XXXX XXXX, 1 with XXXX, 1 account with XXXX XXXX XXXX ( my 1st and oldest credit card ), and 2 accounts with XXXX. The XXXX accounts were not included along with my XXXX XXXX card. At the time, they did not have a balance. XXXX said they'd most likely negotiate all the cards 1st and get those taken care of relatively quickly since the balances and interest rates were lower. They also stated that the monthly payments go to an account and from there, negotiations would be made, the more money in the account, the faster things would be paid off. Instead, they negotiated the loan with Lending Club and my monthly payment was/is {$550.00} per month. I didn't realize at the time that the {$550.00} per month was going solely toward the Lending Club account. Had I known that, I'd have simply negotiated settlement offers with the credit card companies, paid them off with the {$550.00} per month, and been done with them. When I asked XXXX, they stated because the loan was for some much money with Lending Club, they would most likely sue me, and that is why they started with that one. I thought they were negotiating all the accounts and then we'd decide which to do 1st, 2nd etc. At {$550.00} per month, without negotiating a settlement, I could've paid off XXXX and 1 XXXX XXXX account in a few months in full. Now XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX XXXX have all been turned over to collections and charged off. XX/XX/XXXX I lost my job. There is litigation pending over the loss of my employment. When I contacted XXXX to apprise them of the situation, they stated that if I stopped making the payments, the agreement would be broken and Lending Club could, and most likely would, sue me. I continued paying in XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. I am now stopping payments and canceling the automatic withdrawal. I continue to look for a new job and am trying not to lose my home. I am on the verge of filing for bankruptcy because of these predators. And the thing I was desperately trying to avoid, bankruptcy, now looks like my only option at this point. My credit is forever ruined and it used to be in the 700s. Now it's in the 500s ; even IF a refinance on my house were possible, my credit score is so low, no bank would be willing. I am also filing a complaint against XXXX here on this website. Both Lending Club and XXXX, I consider predators, who took advantage of me in my deep distress. They used my lack of knowledge in the financial fields and banking industry to their advantage. If I were still a prosecutor, and not personally involved, I'd indict them for fraud, extortion, and theft. I deliberately chose to be a prosecutor because it was my calling. I wanted to try to help people and maybe leave the world a little better than I found it. I did so for over 14 years. I hope and pray something can be done about my situation. But my biggest incentive for filing these complaints, is that they are not able to do the same thing they did to me, to others. Thank you for your time and attention. It is very much appreciated. Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation