A wonderful reader has sent in a mailer from Happy Money. I’ve written about their mailers before and I think the points I raised previously are still valid.
As mailers go, this one seems better than others that appear to bait consumers with a loan and switch them into some debt relief program. Read this inside confession.
The interest rates on the mailer and their site are better than a lot of companies. One I wrote about yesterday was in the 200 percent range. Happy Money says the maximum interest rate is 24.99 percent.
This mailer was sent to me through my I Buy Junk Mail program. If you have junk mail you’d like to sell, click here. To see other mailers, click here.
I always encourage every person to take the time and read the fine print on any offer and any contract they may sign to understand the truth about an offer. You should never depend on what a salesperson says to you since it can be changed when you sign the agreement.
The Happy Money website seems more informative than most. Personally, I’d like to see a bit more transparency about actual client results. It would be refreshing to be able to see the spread of interest rates for loans extended by company lending partners to consumers. Additionally, delinquency and default data would be nice to see as well so consumers have a general idea of outcomes.
It appears Happy Money has open positions for some important positions and some percentage of the staff can work entirely remotely.
Keep in Mind
This is a debt consolidation loan offer to get a loan and pay off credit card debt. The math can work but also keep in mind that if you run the balances back up again you will now have a loan plus the debt again.
Think clearly. Act wisely before just leaping at any offer.
One Place to Look
One place I look to see if consumers feel they have been misled into a different product with loan offers is by reading consumer complaints. Every company has some unhappy customers. So the best you can do is use complaints to create a pattern and it is hard to take just one complaint as representative of everyone’s experience.
CFPB Complaints
Here are just a few complaints from consumers that are labeled as being related to Happy Money.
- “Hello, I applied for this loan and faced some financial difficulties because my student loans became due. This company helped me by deferring my payments. However, this caused my payments to balloon. I was not fully aware of what was occurring when my payments increased. Now they are sending me emails saying I have options to pay off my loan. However, when I call them they are telling me I have exhausted all of my options. Pay off also says the emails are automated. I work at a XXXX XXXX and I know they should have some sort of filter to cease sending emails informing customers who have no options that they have options! I find this deceitful and extremely frustrating. Because I would like to work with them to become current. But they are not doing anything else to help. If the loan is charged off or I file bankruptcy they will get nothing”. – CFPB Complaint 3167133
The company responded, “Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response” but the complaint was closed.
- “Around XX/XX/2020 I checked my credit and discovered that a loan was issued in my name from a company called Payoff/Happy Money in the amount of XXXX. I made attempts to contact this company but never got through to anyone ( Possibly due to Covid 19 ). I then contacted the 3 credit bureau ‘s to dispute these charges directly. I have not nor have I every taken a loan out or had any business dealings with this company/organization ( PAYOFF/HAPPY MONEY ). I’m not sure how my information was stolen but I did NOT authorize a loan in my name or on my behave. I contacted the XXXX XXXX police department and filed a formal police report.” CFPB Complaint 4236198
It seems the consumer caught the identity theft issue and took appropriate action. Kudos.
- “”I finished paying on XX/XX/XXXX after a charge-off of {$1400.00} that occurred in XX/XX/XXXX. The servicer XXXX XXXX reported the receipts to me as I paid it down. I rejected the offers to settle for less than the full amount, instead opting to pay my debt down to {$0.00}. After the data was not refreshing on my credit I contacted XXXX XXXX, who redirected me to XXXX XXXX ( previously XXXX ) whom was the debt recipient and reported the it incorrectly to the credit agencies. The front desk option never answers, so I disputed the results.
XXXX dropped my credit 80 points once the dispute returned, indicating 1 ) Comments : ” paid in full for less than full balance ” 2 ) Status : ” Paid in settlement. {$1400.00} written off. ” 3 ) On Report : ” Charge Off as of XX/XX/XXXX ” ( when the charge off occured on XX/XX/XXXX ) and the payment in full occurred XX/XX/XXXX.
XXXX also dropped my score 80 points.
I contacted XXXX XXXX over a dozen times. I was told that the dispute was corrected on XX/XX/XXXX, and it is now XX/XX/XXXX.
XXXX XXXX insists, that it is always considered a settlement, even if paid completely, after charge off. I have called XXXX several times, uploaded multiple documents and evidence from XXXX XXXX claiming that I did in fact pay it down to XXXX. XXXX says I should dispute again and start all over from scratch and give them another 30 days.
I am in serious need to fund medical issues, to avoid cutting off my relative from XXXX XXXX. People I have spoken to both at XXXX XXXX and XXXX are aware of this issue, yet they both refer me to speak to the other party, which I do speak to both repeatedly.
XXXX says that based on the information XXXX XXXX sends them, that it shows that I settled for LESS THAN the full amount, and that text apears on my credit report.
The dispute was XX/XX/XXXX sent electronically, the dispute has exceeded 30 days from the date that XXXX XXXX sent the response to XXXX, and they insist that this is the correct way to mark it as settled, and the comment that says ” paid in full for less than full balance ”, they believe that it is now fine what they sent and corrected even after re-investigation.
I ask that they delete this, having exceeded 30 days to fix the issue and severely impacting my ability to borrow, and I have had to get one very small loan was the best I could get was at 59 % APR interest, so this reporting matters both in financial impact to me, as well as medical impact of continuting life support for my relative. Please help fix it.” – CFPB Complaint 4266334
It does not appear anything irregular happened here. The account is reported to have been charged off and was then repaid.
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