Consumer complaint received 2024-07-24
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Getting the loan — 
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc (WI)

The loan I got from Affirm was initiated under a misleading pay-to-work scheme. The company running this scheme is called XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. Their XXXX is XXXX XXXX 
I discovered XXXX XXXX XXXX by stumbling on XXXX of their XXXX ads. The ad was set up as a job posting and made no mention of the " investment deposit ''. The ad simply had me enter my contact details. Soon after I was contacted by the Company 's closers. They had me talk with them on XXXX. They posed the meeting as a job interview and had me open up about my financial troubles. They used this information to further guilt me into buying the program. The job that they claim is guaranteed to make me money, is called appointment setting. They explained that I would be contacting " potential clients '' about their company 's offer and to try to get them to book a call with the company. The company, would then talk to these clients and try to sell them the offer. During the XXXX  meeting, they were vague about what the offer was. When talking about the deposit I'd have to make for " training and coaching '' they claimed that they had funding partners to help cover the cost. During the XXXX  they had me take out a loan with Affirm, a loan company that they must be partnered with. I was approved for {$4000.00} and was made to take out an additional {$2000.00} from XXXX XXXX for the full amount. They claimed that the {$6000.00} would be refunded and all I had to do was book ten appointments in the next 30 days. I find this phrasing to be very misleading. I even asked them directly if I would have to pay anything out of pocket and they told me no, the company would cover it with the help of " funding partners ''. Before signing the loan they had me sign a contract that the company drafted. The contract essentially explained their job offer, how they would not give refunds for any reason, and that I couldn't disparage the company in any way. This contract seems very predatory and I will provide a copy. Lastly, they very quickly showed me a XXXX post that calls out the company, in detail, about their scheme. I figured they reasoned that if they showed me the post early, I would trust them more, and wouldn't look into it. Right after the XXXX  meeting I looked at the post and realized what happened. The next day, I contacted Scaling with sales and tried to get my charges canceled. I spent almost XXXX hours on XXXX with them as they tried to convince me to stick with the program. After repeated refusals, they came out and told me there was nothing they could do because of the contract. So I began the " onboarding process '' a day later. I had another meeting with a person from the company and I asked them if the offer that I'm trying to sell, is the same job I'm a part of and the person said yes. So in essence the people buying into the program, are the product, and they sell them a dream. The training consists of video modules and weekly meetings. I find the training to be very manipulative. The video modules contain poorly made presentations made by the company 's sales team who all seem to be in a hurry when they make these videos. In the training, they tell you things like, present yourself as an authority figure, even though you have no experience. They tell you about " pain points '' which are hardships a person is facing. They tell us to use these paint points to sell the program. They also encourage us to make up the results of the program. " Be creative '' is the phrasing they used. Overall they basically want us to act like a friend who's there to help, while being misleading as possible about the " investment cost ''. These are the same tactics the closers used on me to take out the loan.