Consumer complaint received 2025-11-19 00:00:00
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: American First Finance, Inc.
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
I am filing a complaint against American First Finance ( XXXX ) regarding an extremely inflated and misleading rental-purchase agreement for a furniture purchase made at XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/year>. I agreed to pay approximately {$2500.00} for furniture. However, XXXX charged me over {$7500.00} in fees and rental charges within roughly three months, and now shows a balance of more than {$10000.00}. This balance is unreasonable, unexpected, and was never clearly disclosed. 

1. Misleading point-of-sale presentation At the store, XXXX pulled my credit score ( approximately XXXX ), which made me believe I was receiving a traditional financing plan. At no time did XXXX or the store properly disclose that this was a rental-purchase agreement with a total cost exceeding {$9800.00} {$10000.00}. No reasonable consumer would knowingly agree to pay more than four times the value of the merchandise.

2. Excessive and unexpected fees My scheduled bi-weekly payments were {$200.00}, but only a portion applied to the merchandise. Significant portions were taken by : XXXX fees Sales tax Rental fees Reversals Processing charges Additional add-on charges This caused the balance to increase even though all of my payments were made on time. I have no late payments. 

3. Payment reversals and unexplained charges Several of my payments were reversed by XXXX after being processed, which triggered additional fees. XXXX did not provide clear explanations for these reversals or why these additional costs were added. 

4. Misleading Ending Balance XXXX continuously lists Ending Balance amounts between {$5500.00} and {$6100.00}, which do not reflect a true payoff amount. These numbers are confusing, inconsistent, and misleading. 

5. Requested information not provided I asked XXXX for a full accounting, an explanation of all charges, and access to disclosures. Instead of providing the requested information, they only sent me a settlement offer, which does not address the underlying billing issues. 

6. Settlement offer confirms the inflated charges Their proposed settlement amount is still significantly above the value of the merchandise, even after I have already paid more than {$2000.00}. This confirms that XXXX can not justify the current balance. 

What I am asking the CFPB to review : Whether the contract and charges comply with Texas law Whether the fees, reversals, and inflated balance are lawful Whether the rental-purchase structure was clearly disclosed Whether charges added after on-time payments were appropriate A full accounting and explanation of how my balance increased so dramatically A corrected and reasonable balance that reflects the original purchase price and lawful charges Ensure the account is accurately reported ( all payments have been on time ) I am not requesting credit deletion, as there are no late payments. I am requesting a review of the excessive fees, unexplained balance increases, and failure to provide information I requested in writing.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief