This Lender Said Its Loans Would Help Tennesseans. It Has Sued More Than 110,000 of Them.
www.propublica.org
The Flex Loan, a type of payday loan pioneered by Advance Financial, has burdened low-income borrowers while generating huge profits for lenders. Tennessee lawmakers declined to rein in the lending business, even as other states did.

Reporting Highlights

  • Wave of Lawsuits: Since introducing the Flex Loan in 2015, Tennessee-based lender Advance Financial has filed over 110,000 lawsuits against its borrowers.
  • High Interest and Fees: Flex Loans offer borrowers up to $4,000 at 279.5% interest, trapping thousands of people in debt that can land them in court.
  • Sidestepped Federal Regulators: Advance Financial lobbied lawmakers to create the new Flex Loan to avoid federal consumer protection regulations.
  • w3dd1e@lemm.ee
    5·
    2 days ago

    I 100% fixed my credit score with these types of shitty high interest loans. I took it from 450 to 700 pretty fast.

    I realized that credit score formulas are heavily weighted by payment history and credit balances. I had no credit card balances but I had bad payment record from being a stupid kid in college.

    Once that dawned on me, I put all my debt into a high interest loan. Made a payment or two then my credit score would go up a bit, and I’d refinance to a somewhat lower interest rate. Those high interest loans kill most people on interest so they don’t have origination fees. I kept refinancing to better rates until I got down to a reasonable number. By then my credit score was 700 and I could make consistent affordable payments until it was gone.

    I wouldn’t recommend this to most people. It takes a lot of research and planning. The financial landscape has changed a lot since then too.

    NOTE: Just because I had a success story with these doesn’t mean I think the types of loans are good. I found a loophole.

    I think this industry is fucking gross and they target people in my situation with little knowledge of how loans and credit work. It’s a shame the CFPB couldn’t do more to stop it and now they are dead too.