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Even After Multi-Million Dollar Settlement, Customers Still Have Trouble With Fast Loan Company
ATLANTA — Federal regulators intervened last year after a Channel 2 Action News investigation uncovered wrongdoing by an Atlanta financial firm called GreenSky, but customers report the company is still a chronic problem.
The settlement states that GreenSky violated federal law. They are legally bound by this agreement to reimburse millions to customers who have been harmed and to change the way they do business.
But Justin Gray, Channel 2 Consumer Investigator found dozens of new formal complaints about GreenSky with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Andrea Carlomusto told Gray she thought the appeals would end when Atlanta-based GreenSky agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with federal regulators last summer, but they didn’t.
“It’s constant harassment. It’s just that your heart skips every 2 seconds,” Carlomusto said. “They call about every hour and a half, every 2 hours.”
GreenSky grants loans directly to sellers or merchants, not to customers.
In a series of Channel 2 Action News surveys last year, we introduced you to GreenSky customers like Della Patterson.
She signed an unwanted GreenSky loan from a roofer for a job that was never done.
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“Sometimes I lay in my bed and cry, and I wonder why they do it to me like that,” Patterson said.
Richard Lucia ended up with a 27% interest rate on the GreenSky loan for his septic system.
“They guaranteed me it wouldn’t be more than 3%,” Lucia said.
In Carlomusto’s case, it was dental surgery. She said she never took an $18,000 loan for a procedure she never had.
“When I called GreenSky and told them I hadn’t signed up for this, I didn’t know what was going on, can you please refund it, they said no,” Carlomusto said. .
Last summer, federal regulators from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stepped in, slapping GreenSky with a multimillion-dollar solder deal for violating federal law.
GreenSky agrees to reimburse $9 million to customers harmed by its illegal conduct.
In March, banking giant Goldman Sachs bought GreenSky for $2.2 billion.
But a check of the CFPB database shows that Carlomusto is not alone – there were still dozens of other similar complaints filed after this legal settlement with regulators.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson sent a quote to Gray, saying:
“We take concerns raised by our customers very seriously and work to ensure that the service provided to them by their merchants is in line with our core values so that their experience is simple, seamless and delivers value.”
“I have no intention of paying anything. I will file for bankruptcy before I do,” Carlomusto said.
Channel 2 Action News has also contacted federal regulators at the CFPB. The sent in a statement, saying:
“We have dedicated enforcement and monitoring units that work to detect repeat offenders and repeat offenders and better hold them accountable. This includes careful review to ensure orders are tracked and closer coordination with agency partners to ensure each agency’s orders are not treated as suggestions.
The CFPB told Gray that consumers can file formal complaints online or by phone.
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