Consumer complaint received 2023-05-20
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: OneMain Finance Corporation (WA)

We applied for a personal Loan at One Main Financial at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX WA XXXX. When we first sat down with the loan officer, she asked what we needed the loan for and we answered by renovating our kitchen. We carried on some small talk and got down to business.

I began by asking some questions. I asked if there was a loan origination fee. She answered no. I asked if there was an early payoff penalty or fee. She answered No. When looking at my husbands credit score she remarked that it was quite high, she wasnt used to seeing such a high credit score. I continued asking questions as we continued the process. When it came time to complete the paperwork, I handed her my drivers license and she remarked that I will just put this in your husbands name. No sense in complicating things.

When it came time to sign for the loan, she handed my husband an IPad with the loan information. He said, it went from place to sign to the next place to sign. He wasnt able to read the paperwork. He turns XXXX in XXXX and I think he had difficulty with the small font. We are used to signing loan documents on paper. 
We received our first payment notice. It was considerably higher than the agreed upon payment. My husband called and was told that the increase in payment was due to accrued interest from the time we signed for the loan and the time of the first payment. We were asked when we wanted to make the first payment so we chose a date. Never in our life, in all of the loans that we have signed for, have we had to pay interest from the signing of the loan to the first payment. The loan officer did not tell us about it and I had never heard of it so I didnt ask about it. ( When my husband called to ask about it, her response was that It was in the contract on the IPad. ) My husband usually opens the bills so I have not had an opportunity to look at any statements until the third statement that we received. I noticed we owed more than we had borrowed. I called and was told that it was a loan origination fee. ( The Loan officer had lied to me. ) It has become obvious to me why the loan XXXX did not want me to sign. I was asking questions. My husband is almost XXXX and can get confused. He was quiet and asked nothing. He was an easy mark. I realize that more than likely this borders on the line of legality especially since it is our word against the loan officer that she lied to us. The printer was down so she couldnt give us a copy of the contract. She never said she would mail it to us. We never got a copy of the paperwork. 
We took out a personal loan at XXXX for the remaining amount of money we needed for our kitchen. There was no origination fee, and no charge or interest before our first payment, and I can believe the loan officer at XXXX that there will be no early pay off penalty. We plan to pay off both loans in the beginning of XXXX when we are able to liquidate some funds. I will be very angry if we have to pay an early payoff penalty. 
We were lied to by the loan officer. She told me that there was no origination fee. She never mentioned that we would have to pay interest between when we signed for the loan and our first payment. She targeted my husband as the person to borrow the money not both of us. We have always had joint financial obligations. To me this is slimy business operating procedures. If there is smoke there is fire and there is plenty of smoke in our dealing with XXXX XXXX. Illegal? I dont know. Unethical targeting seniors possibly, but the entire transaction gives me a bad taste in my mouth. Despite obscene interest rates, they also prey on the poor, uneducated or those struggling financially that have no place to go. The is a major difference in policies and procedures of an A rated bank or lending institution and OneMain financial. One is professional, forthcoming, honest, trustworthy and the other reeks of alley way, and backroom dealing.