Consumer complaint received 2023-04-13
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan — Payday loan
Issue: Can't stop withdrawals from your bank account — 
Company: SoLo Funds Inc. (SD)

Over the last year I have taken short term payday loans from Solo Funds online. The amounts steadily increased and I owed the balance every two weeks aligned with my paycheck. 

The amount I owed and the fees became really high. I contacted the state that I live in, XXXX XXXX, and was informed that Solo is not licensed to lend money in the state of XXXX XXXX. Their cost of lending through fees instead of directly disclosing an interest rate also violates state statute. 

I contact Solo on XX/XX/XXXX to inform them that I was revoking my authorization for ACH payments to my checking account and debit card. They responded to that email. I tried countless time to reach customer service to discuss the issues and there is NO live customer service. They require you use a chat interface, submit a ticket, or email. I called the headquarters in XXXX XXXX and you get a voicemail system that usually full and you if you leave a message no one ever calls you back. 

I repeated my request to revoke the ACH authorization several times in writing each month since XX/XX/XXXX. I also sent a demand letter stating that the interest that they charged with the fees exceeded the legal limit in XXXX XXXX and I was owed a refund. 

I borrowed a total of {$9200.00}. I have made 20 payments of {$11000.00}. I would like to settle the balance remaining based the allowable 36 % APR despite that you are not licensed to lend money in the state I reside. Solo now owes a refund to me of {$1700.00}. The interest they were charging was well over 36 % allowed and often close to % 200 or more.

Despite dozens of attempts to communicate through all the channels at Solo I would always receive a pre written response to screen shot my error message and they would never answer any of my questions or allow me to speak with customer service. 

I contacted my financial institution XXXX XXXX  XXXX and place a Stop Payment on my account and Debit card after I revoked the ach authorization with Solo. I continued to try and contact them in writing but on XX/XX/XXXX they processed a payment to my debit card with no company name, contact information, or description for {$770.00}. I contacted XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX and they confirmed that no information was displayed on this transaction except the word payback. I filed a dispute with XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX which is currently in process. 

Only after I disputed this charge did Solo reach out to me. Their recovery department reached out to me and said they do not honor revoked ACH requests and they would process another payment if I continued the dispute. I was told to cancel my dispute. They will not respond to any request to speak to customer service live. They will not adhere to my revoking authoring request, nor my request for a refund due to excessive charges constituting a violation of XXXX XXXX state law requiring a license and interest rates. 

I made the mistake of trusting this company when I needed funds, but do not seem to be able to get resolution at this point and fear they will continue to take money they are not allowed to take using random names to process. XXXX  XXXX XXXX did cancel my debit card but Solo says they will continue to seek payment even though they owe me a refund.