Consumer complaint received 2024-05-25 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease — Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing
Company: Wildhorse Financial Services, LLC
State: NJ

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, I searched online for auto lenders who pre-qualify. I have a credit score of over XXXX and was specifically looking for a XXXX XXXX or bank to take over my lease buyout. The internet directed me to Gravity Lending ( XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX XXXX, TX XXXX ). I submitted an online form as part of the review process. The following evening I received notification from XXXX that my credit had been accessed by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX, NJ XXXX ). I immediately submitted a fraud alert and had all three of my credit reports frozen. I also emailed XXXX to notify them of the fraud. Because this occurred over the weekend, I had to wait until the following Monday to follow up. On Monday morning I received a voicemail message from XXXX, informing me that the credit check was requested by Gravity Lending. I then contacted Gravity Lending - my point of contact was XXXX XXXX. XXXX sent a screen shot of a form I submitted online where I authorized my credit to be accessed. I explained that I was under the impression that I was submitting a form for PRE-APPROVAL only. Not wanting to have any additional hard inquiries on my credit report, I decided to follow through with the process, albeit reluctantly. As things progressed in the application process, I became more wary. I explained that I had always gone through the dealership for financing and asked that things be explained to me " as if I were a XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX '' Instead, I kept finding out details about the process after the fact. For instance, I inquired about XXXX and why my credit was pulled by this lender. Instead of being forthright and explaining that I wasn't dealing with a lender, but a BROKER, I was simply told that the request to pull my credit report had come from Gravity Lending. I became more suspicious when I was instructed by Gravity Lending to go to my local XXXX dealership and request specific documentation, but to be forewarned that I might receive some pushback from the dealership. When I went to XXXX of XXXX XXXX dealership in NJ, it wasn't pushback that I received. Instead, I was met with raised eyebrows. I could sense that something was off, but no one said anything so I proceeded. Within XXXX hours of the dealership initiating things on their end I received a phone call from them. They had informed me that XXXX was only covering the payoff balance of the car, approximately {$13000.00} and not the total amount to include, taxes and fees of {$23000.00}. I instructed XXXX to pull my application and halt the process. I then went through the XXXX dealership for financing. Upon closer review of XXXX, I discovered that around 98 % of their reviews are negative. Gravity Lending uses sub-par lenders and also fails to disclose that it is a broker and not an actual lender. This is further substantiated by going to the website where there is no indication that the customer is dealing with a third party.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation