Consumer complaint received 2025-05-27 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: OneMain Finance Corporation
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I completed a loan application online with One Main Financial ( XXXX ) on XX/XX/XXXX and reviewed the offers available over the next week or so. Received multiple emails, sms texts and phone calls which was expected. XXXX text implied my loan was " approved '' but I realized they probably meant my application was approved. I think that's deceptive. What does it take to " approve '' a loan application? Receiving it? I checked the company reputation online and it was mostly very negative and the APRs were too high. I decided I wasn't interested. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a text at XXXX. I replied definitively I wasn't interested and politely commented that I'd never been contacted at midnight for a follow-up sales call. I informed the rep I wasn't interested and to stop contacting me. The reply was within minutes and I was assured the application would be removed. Today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I received an email explaining why my loan had been rejected because of a review of my credit file. That resulted in a hard inquiry on my report, something I didn't want and was assured would not happen unless I went ahead with the process. I clearly informed the rep I was not interested but apparently the inquiry was performed anyway and has resulted in a several point drop in my profile score. I have been rebuilding my credit and it hovers around " FAIR '' but is rising. This inquiry has set me back several crucial points. With my score at this level I have still managed to be approved by two other lenders for unsecured credit, so I'm not sure why I was rejected. I'm not going to bother following up on the correspondence necessary to find out, but other companies have included the reasoning in the written document explaining the decision. OMF tacks on an additional 60 to 90 days of hoop-jumping and it's likely they'll waste every day of that time in " conforming '' to the required process. Looking more closely at complaints online I see this seems to be a common practice. Combined with the highly unusual midnight text and the unauthorized hard inquiry this rep and this company have done my credit harm and caused me unnecessary frustration. Why are they allowed to get away with this? Some complaints online go back several years. To me it means there is little or no federal oversight or company supervision. It will take me a few months to see a rise in my score and I can't afford hard inquiries unless I'm reasonably certain the lender will offer a loan at an advantageous rate. There was no reason for this to happen as I specifically stated I wanted to weigh my options and was assured the inquiry would not be initiated without my consent. By doing so I believe they have committed a federal offense, have caused me personal harm and engaged in unethical conduct by texting me at midnight. I am very angry and frustrated this has happened and it's completely unnecessary. Whatever penalties may be assessed I hope it will be done and I hope people considering doing business with this company read this complaint and think twice before even completing an application. It seems doing so is regarded as implied consent and should not be allowed to happen again.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation