Consumer complaint received 2022-08-31
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan — Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan — 
Company: Self Financial Inc. (MA)

I opened a Self Lender Credit Builder Account in 2021 in an attempt to build credit history and was making monthly ACH payments of {$25.00} to the account. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email that my account information had been changed so I was unable to log in. I immediately contacted Self as the email prompted me to for unauthorized change and waited. Days passed and no response or attempt to reach out came my way. I checked my bank and noticed that {$360.00} was withdrawn from my bank from Self Lender on XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately called Self customer service and I was in the call queue for over 45 minutes without ever being able to speak to somebody. I filed a dispute with my bank and reached out an additional 3 times to Self ( via Phone, Support Ticket, and XXXX ). Once again, days went by without a response. 

Finally, I received notification that my Self Lender account had been closed on my credit report ( once again, without any attempt to contact me ). Someone had finally looked at my account seemingly and I received an email prompting me to reset my password on XX/XX/XXXX, explaining that my personal email account was the account that was compromised. This is untrue, and I confirmed with XXXX that no access was granted to my email account. The unauthorized account access was unequivocally and solely on the Self Lender account, and it is hurtful that they tried to pin the blame on me as a consumer who has done nothing wrong. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I then received a notification from XXXX XXXX  that a new Credit Card had been opened with Self. This was done without my permission or authorization and has negatively affected my credit by reducing my credit age. Similarly, I received notification that I would receive the payout for my account, however, I would only receive a portion as they were going to deduct fees. This is unfair given they closed the account without my consultation and I am a victim in this situation so why should I be responsible for fees? They stated that they were only going to give me {$360.00} of my {$510.00} payout balance. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I also sent an email to XXXX XXXX, CEO of Self Lender explaining my situation and requesting that the FULL payout amount of {$510.00} be applied to my account. 

A week later, The payout amount on my account increased to {$510.00} as it should be. 

Weeks went by and as of today 's date ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I still have not received a check for my payout amount or any money at all so I contacted Self again. They told me that I was only going to receive a {$30.00} refund and that I needed to send my bank statements for multiple banks to prove my identity to receive the payout. I questioned this and received an email back within a few minutes stating that they were able to verify without the information. This is very shady. 

I continued fighting for my money and they are refusing to cooperate whatsoever and are continually changing the numbers and can not seem to explain at any point why there are discrepancies or provide me any proof that they do not owe me the full amount of {$510.00}. The most proof they have given me is an email in which they typed out that my original payout amount should be {$230.00} ( another random number ) and gave me a long spiel about how they are removing all but {$30.00} for fees, which again I feel I shouldnt have to pay given the situation. 

I kept asking them to confirm my account numbers, provide proof of their payout calculations and explain why my Self Lender credit account shows that my payout is {$510.00}. They keep avoiding my requests. Following my original letter, they upped my payout to the correct amount of {$510.00} so it doesnt make sense! 

Self has shown itself to prey on consumers with predatory business practices and doing all they can to avoid giving their consumers their hard-earned money back. Not only was my money stolen from me, but their only attempts to contact me were made to an unknown phone number and email that were on my account ( presumably added by whomever compromised my account ). 

I have tried everything to get my money back and they are refusing the cooperate in any instance while also being completely incapable of explaining the discrepancies, providing any proof, and just stalling until their consumers give up. There are hundreds of XXXX  complaints with similar situations and I will continue to fight to have my {$510.00} payout returned to me.