Consumer complaint received 2021-01-27
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan — Installment loan
Issue: Getting the loan — 
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION (CA)

Where do I start. It's been a nightmare for 17 days now. 

1. I came across the XXXX website on XX/XX/XXXX. I wanted to do a home improvement project and other websites recommended XXXX as a lender who provided great personal loan options and rates for excellent credit borrowers. 

2. I was looking for a maximum loan amount at the longest terms and best rate. XXXX advertised these ( attached ) and since I had an exceptional credit profile and high income, I thought it wouldn't be a problem to get the desired loan. Based on this information, I decided to proceed with an application. 

3. Based on the advertised rates ( attached ), I submitted an application for $ XXXX for 144 months at an APR rate starting at 5.99 % on XX/XX/2021 ( attached ). Since my credit profile was exceptional ( credit score > 815 ), had a high income and no missed payment ever, the reasonable expectation was I'd get the best terms. It's important to note that I proceeded with an application ONLY because they offered {$100.00} AND at terms of more than 10 years. 

4. For the record, ever since I submitted my application, I've had 42 email correspondences with XXXX and 3 phone calls ( no space to attach all evidence - upon request it can be provided )! That happened within the timespan from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/2021. No other company or lender has been so dismissive of my questions and concerns! 

5. XXXX sent me an email on XX/XX/2021 requesting to give them a call. My days were fully booked and I didn't have time for phone calls, so I wanted to communicate online. However, their email read " Please note that we are unable to respond to replies to this email. '' even though that message was contained in an ... email. Nevertheless, I replied by saying that my schedule was fully booked and I requested for them to give me a call around noon. Nobody acknowledged my email nor did they call me. 

6. I gave them a call on XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX. They had sent me an email aggressively stating " We apologize for any inconvenience, but we would need to speak to you via phone. '' They absolutely ignored their potential customer 's preferences and schedules! The call consisted of a lady asking some basic questions for identity verification purposes. At the end, she asked if I'd need the loan for home improvement. I said obviously yes, because that's what I applied for. She mentioned that I'd listed a rental where I currently lived, so I clarified that at least 70-80 % of the loan would be for a vacation home improvement abroad ( XXXX ). She said ok and told me I'd receive an email after they review. 

7. I received an email on XX/XX/2021 that I had to log into their portal and provide documentation that prove a ) income ( pay stub ) and b ) liquid assets. I said ok, fair enough, and logged into my account. I was shocked to find out that they had changed my original loan application request! It was listed that as if I had applied for $ XXXX for 84 months at rates starting at 10.99 %!!! Not only did they change the loan term and rate without my knowledge, but also presented it AS IF I'd personally requested this amount, loan terms and rate, which was a lie!!! Absolutely disgraceful and falling within the bait and switch illegal practices category. I was furious, to say it mildly. 

8. I emailed them on XX/XX/2021 asking about what was going on. After a series of more than 8 mind-blowing replies from clueless agents who completely ignored my messages and were providing general answers to their own questions or referring me to call them, I became even more frustrated. Examples of their unprofessional treatment of a potential customer were " You must complete and submit our online application in order to be considered for a loan. '' ( when I've already had a submitted application ) or " We are not a FICO score driven company. '' (??? ) or " Our lowest rates for any given loan purpose, amount and term are for borrowers with excellent credit '' ( yep, and I was with an exceptional credit ) or " The rate will be determined based on a review of your entire credit profile, the selected loan purpose, amount, and terms. '' ( hmm, yep, I've already submitted an application and selected a loan purpose, amount and terms, and you changed those after the fact, without consent or notice and played it as if I'd done it! ) or " In order to narrow the scope of the interest rate ranges that can be offered, please ensure you are entering the purpose, amount, and term on our rates page '' ( again, I've already done that, and the question was why you changed my original request! ). Eventually, I was fed up and replied with " I have ALREADY applied and have ALREADY received an offer. Have you read my previous emails? Please connect me to a supervisor. '' 9. An important piece of this blood-boiling email correspondence was about their Rate Beat program, quoting what they told me after I requested a competitive offer 's match : " XXXX offers a " Rate Beat '' program. In order to be considered for our " Rate Beat '' program, we require you to provide us with an approval email and the Truth in Lending Statement or the Truth in Lending Statement only. The loan approval must be for the same loan type, loan amount, loan term, have the same payment method and be available to all customers of the financial institution. '' 10. Well, did you read the above? Let me translate to you : " We pretend to offer a Rate Beat program, but the reality is we don't. We just market it so we can mislead customers. Even if you try to get it, we've made it extra hard, so you will never succeed. However, rest assured, we are offering you these high rates because you won't have other options anyway, however, we would be more than happy to match the rates of a competitor if you happen to lose days of your life to prove to us what we know can not be proven ''. 

11. Point 9. and 10. from above are crucial pieces of information. Why? See below. 

12. After or around XX/XX/XXXX, I had a call with a ( supervisor ) lady about that fact that they had misled me and converted my original request into another type of request without my knowledge and authorization. In other words, I had applied because they claimed - on their website and during the application process - that I could get a loan of $ XXXX for 144 months at lowest rates of 5.99 %! Had I wanted to apply {$100.00} for loan terms of 84 months and rates above 10.99 %, I'd have not applied to XXXX at all! I filed an internal complaint. 

13. Another person from XXXX called me and left a voicemail the next day. We had a long call, in which he basically said " It is was what it is, take a hike ''. His continuous assurances that they cared, that he understood my frustration and the reasoning, etc, etc, etc, bla, bla, bla were only empty words. When I asked what they would do in order to help me get the loan I requested, he basically said " Nothing ''. He wanted my extensive personal financial documentation uploaded without giving me any guarantee I'd even get a loan, let alone at reasonable APR rates, terms, etc. Again, let 's not forget I applied for a loan of $ XXXX for 12 years at around 5.99 % -maybe up to 8-ish % given my exceptional credit, income, assets and payment history. Instead, we were discussing what they had decided I'd applied for : $ XXXX for 7 years and rates from 10.99 % up to around 16 % - and whether or not I'd even qualify for that! I told him - if you want proof of certain income and proof of certain liquid assets, imagine you had that proof, and the 100 % evidence - what would you give me? He said he couldn't say. In short, they made me now fight for terms that I even didn't care about anymore because I was not interested in those and in order to do that I had to upload an extensive personal financial documentation! They were doing nothing but attempting to collect financial data for free! They were doubling down on gains in both the domain of loan terms & rates and the domain free financial data ( with some privacy violations! ) 14. After all of this, I was resistant to move forward. I had other options and resources to have plans B. 

15. However, they continued sending me reminder emails insisting I upload my docs. I decided to upload my pay stub - it was the usual documentation that most lenders require anyway and it was sufficient to prove my creditworthiness. I was not open to upload full statements of all my assets (!! ). 

16. On XX/XX/2021, I logged into the XXXX portal to find out that they had issues with my uploaded pay stub. Quoting " We have received the verification documents submitted. However, the pay stub received is cut off. Please upload or fax a full printer friendly version of your pay stub ( s ) showing your name, name of employer, a detailed view of earnings and deductions, and dated within the last 30 days at your earliest convenience. '' The same day, I emailed them about that to ask what was the issue and why it was important. Obviously, did you expect they would address my questions? Right, they didn't. They usually address only THEIR questions and provide answers only to those. Clearly, aggressive dictatorship-style and one-way street orders like this " Please call us at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, so that we may further assist you. '' were abundant as single liner emails instead of answers. Customer preferences and needs? No, that wasn't important - we, the potential customers, had to follow their and only their preferences, needs, orders, etc. 

17. After another sequence of 10 back-and-forth emails regarding the issue in place, they assured that they would review my application with whatever I had uploaded. In the meantime, I said ok - I'd upload something asset-like, so I had uploaded snapshots of the statements of 4-5 of my asset accounts as well, that were proving at least 85 % of the total assets amount they required. 

18. On XX/XX/2021 they sent me an email to sign in into my account and review. I was shocked again! They gave me a counter-offer (!!! attached ) for $ XXXX for 84 months at 10.24 %!!! Let me analyze this - they a ) reduced my requested loan amount by 60 %, b ) reduced my requested loan term by 42 %, but c ) kept the APR rate ridiculously high! They had attached a Decline Notice ( attached ) " explaining '' why they would have approved " my '' request ( remember, my original request was different from the one they presented as if it was " my '' request ). It consisted of a number of lies, such as " Insufficient income and/or assets for loan amount requested '' (!!! ), " Insufficient credit history '' (!!! ). Needless to say, those seemed like made up. 

19. Obviously, I was frustrated. It was both a joke and a bait-and-switch scheme in my mind. Reluctantly, I decided to explore and pursue the promised XXXX " Rate Beat '' program. I had multiple offers from other lenders, and one of them was for $ XXXX for 84 months at 8.99 % ( quite similar to their " counter-offer '' ). I provided that information in an email on XX/XX/2021. What do you think happened? That's right - nothing different from what I described above, especially in point 11. 

20. After an exchange of another series of 10 useless emails over 3 days from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/2021, I was fed up. They shut me up and drove me to understand that that " Rate Beat '' program was a hoax, as I hypothesized above, and they had no intention whatsoever to allow me to pursue it. How do I know it? Well, I also received single-liner emails unequivocally stating " The counter offer is firm and non-negotiable. ". Keep in mind I didn't say " an email '', I said " emails ''. That's right - this was given to me as an answer to my questions about their " Rate Beat '' program not once, but at least twice. Plus additional once such as " Unfortunately, as a counter offer is made, we are unable to negotiate the terms that our credit team has set on the application. '' 21. To summarize, I decided to apply for a home improvement personal loan from LightStream ONLY BECAUSE they marketed they offered a ) $ XXXX, b ) for 144 months and c ) at rates starting at 5.99 % for their best credit worthy customers ( I was ). Instead, I was misled, lied to, given orders, ignored, patronized, ignored again, treated unprofessionally, forced to provide extensive private personal financial information for free, etc, etc, etc. That's a classic bait and switchpractice - they lured me to believe I can get something reasonable from them, and during the game they were constantly changing the rules of the game at my expense until they arrived at WHAT they wanted rather than at what their customer wanted and requested. 

22. The whole application process and experience was a nightmare. I feel conned by XXXX. I feel used and taken advantage of. I feel they did everything in their powers to put me in a corner and pressure me to get what they want me to get, rather than what I requested I'd like to get. They knowingly hid information from me and acted behind my back. They deliberately propagated lies and NEVER answered my questions. NEVER! They considered the loan application process as a one-way street and they were the dictators giving all orders and determining all rules of the game. They mistreated me in multiple dimensions and discriminated against me based on national origin. I've NEVER dealt with a company that deals with their potential customer in such an unfair way! 

23. Finally, the final loan offer they gave me was the WORST out of the offers from all lenders. More importantly, it had nothing to do with the requested loan when I submitted my application to XXXX. Furthermore, they presented a Rate Beat program that didn't exist in reality. 

PS. Additional documentation evidence may be provided upon request.