Consumer complaint received 2024-10-29 00:00:00
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Other advances of future income
Issue: Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing — 
Company: NBT BANCORP INC.
State: NH

Complaint narrative:
I was approached by a company called XXXX XXXX after I filled out a form online to request information on going solar. I had not made any decision one way or the other, just wanted information about how things worked. Because I knew my property is in a direct location for collection of solar and I wanted to do my part in changing to green energy. I received a call from this company and was told that this was a great time to seek alternative energy sources as there is ( was ) government energy credits that help in the costs of installation of alternative energy sources of 30 %. So, this will make the project more affordable as the government would pay that portion of the costs. And they have engineers that will design the system such that I will not be paying more for my power in the way of a loan over what I was currently paying for power now. They asked me for access to the last 6 months of power bills. They said that they could put additional panels to make sure that there was enough surplus that it would likely give me a net +. In other words, that my energy cost of my loan would be less than the actual cost of the power I used. 
I have lot of complaints about XXXX XXXX but the biggest one is that they contacted NBT Bank for me to get a loan for the project. They use NBT Bank to fund solar projects and between XXXX XXXX and NBT Bank, the conn was complete, such that I had no idea that both the Solar company and NBT Bank were lying to me. It was not until I filed my taxes last year that I knew that I had been lied to. How could it be a lie, the Bank was deferring 30 %, why would they do that if it was not true that I would receive this amount back from the Government because of the energy credits and after receiving the payment from IRS, could then pay the deferred amount off. They had my tax returns, in order to qualify me for this loan. They knew full well that I would not qualify for any money back from IRS. They knew full well that I they mislead me, when they offered me a loan with a deferment that would have no benefit to me and withheld the actual cost to me for getting this loan. Between XXXX XXXX and NBT Bank they collectively conned me into believing that in addition to the cost of my loan being equal or less than my monthly bills from the XXXX XXXX XXXX, They would be giving me a loan that was two tier with 30 % of the final costs of installation, deferred so that I would have time to file my taxes and get back the funds to be able to pay off this deferred amount. Why would they defer an amount if it was not true? Did they qualify me on the amount of the un-deferred loan or on the total? I assumed at the time that I would not have to out of pocket pay back that deferred amount that it was on deferred amount so this was why I was deferring some of it. I never was told, when the deferment was over that I would be paying XXXX more a month. But they knew I would have to. Now that I know the truth, they had my tax returns, they knew what I made and what I paid to IRS every year. So, they knew full well that there would be no return of funds and there would be no repayment by anyone but me for those deferred funds. That deferring funds played only the role of supporting their lie, about what my actual costs of installation would be, and what my actual monthly loan would be once the deferment was over. The only ones to benefit from this lie was XXXX XXXX and NBT Bank, they sold two products ( solar installation and a loan ) that had I known the real cost would not have been sold. And after I filed my taxes and found out I had been conned, I then found out the true cost of installation of the system was over XXXX. And I would be responsible to pay back that entire amount. While this lie was started with XXXX XXXX, it was NBT Bank that enticed me into a loan that was predatory. They alone had the information on what the credit actually meant and they alone had all my financials to reflect that I would never see a dime from IRS to be able to pay this deferred amount. They alone are responsible for this predatory loan. And it was a predatory loan. 
Further they never told me, should I not get the money back from the government, I would have to add the amount into the same loan period and that I would then be faced with XXXX +/- a month loan payment. In the loan paperwork, k I assume that it was spelled out that I would be responsible for this amount should the government not give me the 30 % credit to be able to pay it off. But I was told that this would not happen unless I did not file my taxes. So I did not understand what I was being offered. But they did. There was no benefit to me to have this loan deferred. It induced me into agreeing to loan that cost XXXX more than I was told. 
I applied and gave NBT my financials over the phone and signed the paperwork over the internet. Was approved and after a mess on XXXX XXXX 's end in which it took them forever to put the system in because of delays on their end, relative to two aspects of the job. First being that they engineered the panels to be on the roof of my house, the roof of my 3 car garage and my barn all without telling me that all three of these roofs would have panels on them. I had asked them to put them on posts as I did not really want them on the roof of any of my buildings but was told that while I could see them in solar fields on the sides of the road, the wildlife can damage so they dont recommend doing this. They had to come to get into the attic of my house to determine if my roof structure would support the panels. But no one told me until they were about to start the project that it would be on all the buildings. My house has a roof that was only 10 years old so I figured with 30 years expected life, it would be 20 years down the way before I needed to reroof. But when they included the 3 car garage and the barn that was a complete different thing as the roof on the barn was coming on 30 years old within the next 5 years and the 3 car garage roof was 20 years old and would need reroofing within 10. So, I made them stop. They came back and offer to reroof the buildings right away and some of it would be included in my loan the balance I would have to pay out of pocket. I agreed to that. During the installation of the roof of the Barn one of their guys dropped something heavy that caused my salt system for my pool to be heavily damaged and needed to be replaced. While they knew this happened it was never even offered to cover those costs in fact, they said that they were sorry but. Then, the guys came to dig the trenches for the power, and they immediately broke whatever they were using to dig the ditches. It was more than 2 weeks with no word from them how they were going to get the ditches dug ( and never told me that they would dig up the pavement on the sides and across driveway ). I kept calling them and they said they would get back to me and never did until I called them and said whats the problem? To which they told me that they had not done any installations in central or northern NH and did not know how rocky it was. They did not have access to a back hoe and the equipment that dug without one would not allow the installation depth required especially when it crossed the road. I said I have a friend with a backhoe and can get him there in a few days if they told him where it was that they needed dug. I ended up with that bill too. They then told me that the area of my driveway that had been cut off from the lower portion would need to be concreted in order to protect the equipment. But they closed in the driveway without any concrete and we had to re-dig it back up. They came again total unprepared with 10 bags of concrete for a job that would have taken at least 4 times that. So they had to leave me without access to my front door and upper driveway for a weekend when I had family coming. I ended up having to put in the concrete myself enough to be able to drive up and around. They came back the following week and put in the rest, and what a mess they left. It was well over 4 months beyond when it was suppose to be completed, and the bank had notified me of need to start paying months before I had a completed system much less it was online. They delayed it for one or 2 months, but it started at least a month prior to being operational. 
I thought at that time, now the additional blood letting was over. But when I received notification from my accountant that the 30 % energy credit that I filled out assumes that I make enough to and a XXXX liability to pay IRS and that there was no money coming back. Then I received the first bomb from NBT that I would need to pay this amount off or it would be recalculated into my loan stating XX/XX/XXXX. That I would be paying XXXX a month more than I was already paying if this amount had not paid off before. 
I wrote to them with the complaint that this deferred amount was a conn job perpetrated by them in conjunction with the XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX did not have my financials but NBT did, and they should never have approved me with a deferred amount knowing full well what my financial statements showed I what made would not support any possibility of my receipt of any money from IRS. And honestly, they had the obligation of making sure I understood that I would need to have a tax liability to IRS of XXXX to get a tax credit and that I would be credited towards my tax debt and therefore would not have to pay IRS, but instead use the money I would need to pay IRS to pay down the deferred amount. Because given the tax returns, they had to qualify me. They absolutely knew that I would not qualify going into this loan. They absolutely had an obligation, knowing what I made and knowing that this Energy Credit would require me to make way more money than I do ( I did ). They had an obligation to make sure that I was not misinformed. Something they knew before they approved me and had me sign loan paperwork on. But instead, they let me move forward signing these loan contracts and having XXXX XXXX install solar, knowing full well that when this deferred amount came due, I would have no money to pay it in full without going out and borrowing it somewhere else. They knew fully well that the discussions of me paying this off with the energy credit was untrue, that they were pulling off a scheme with XXXX XXXX, that was predatory lending. NBT Bank worked together with XXXX XXXX to set this up. But NBT BANK wants to put it on the back of XXXX XXXX but it was NBT alone, were the only players with a full picture. They responded that they could not help what XXXX XXXX told me and I should go back to them about this. NBT BANK alone, had my tax returns, they alone were the only one who had a complete picture. They alone offered me a deferred amount, knowing full well that deferring of this loan was the only way to sell their product to me that I would not be able to afford if I knew the real cost of what I would be expected to pay. XXXX XXXX had no idea of what I made and therefore if this Energy Credit would be something that benefited me .NBT BANK knew and they induced me into a loan that they knew was based on a false understanding by me. And given that false understanding enticed me by fostering that false understanding with a deferred portion of my loan based on 30 % and the time to file my taxes, would get me to foolishly not understand the fine prints actual meaning.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation