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American First Finance Loans Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: A consumer lodged a class action lawsuit against lender American First Finance, Inc.
- Why: The plaintiff claims American First Finance is not licensed to provide loans in California and charges interest rates that exceed maximum legal limits.
- Where: The class action lawsuit is pending in California federal court.
American First Finance is an unlicensed lender that deceives consumers into receiving loans with interest rates that exceed the maximum legal limit, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Larry Facio claims American First Finance is not licensed to provide loans in California and fails to disclose the essential terms of the loans they unlawfully offer.
Facio wants to represent a California Class of consumers who purchased goods or services from retail businesses affiliated with the lender who are, or who the company claims to be bound to its security agreement.
American First Finance Hid Terms, Charged ‘Exorbitant’ Interest, Claims Class Action
The plaintiff says he was never informed his purchase was being financed by American First Finance or what the financing terms would be when he bought tires for his car at Roseville Wheels & Tires in 2017.
Facio claims he was told he would not have to pay any interest on the tires if he paid in full within 100 days, however, he ended up being charged an “exorbitant” interest rate for his purchase and was only informed his loan had been assigned to American First Finance after he contacted the retailer.
“Had he known of the interest rates and other terms of the financing, Mr. Facio would have refused to complete the transaction,” states the class action lawsuit.
The plaintiff says he was made to sign a security agreement at the time of his purchase, but that he was never shown the financing terms.
“Mr. Facio was not informed about AFF and believed that his payments would be made to Roseville Wheels & Tires,” states the class action lawsuit. “He was not shown the face of the computer to know what he was authorizing by e-signing on the small electronic pad.”
American First Finance later provided documents to Facio which showed the purchase contract was not manually assigned, but instead was computer generated, according to the class action lawsuit.
The documents also stipulated that he could only contact the lender to discuss the terms of his loan, the class action lawsuit alleges.
Facio claims retailers go along with the “fraudulent and illegal” scheme because it helps them sell their products or services to customers who want to use a payment plan the company wouldn’t otherwise be able to offer.
“AFF recruits new merchants with the claim that merchants who offer AFF loans can ‘supercharge sales’ and AFF decisions to finance loans will be ‘super fast!’,” states the class action lawsuit.
Facio claims AFF is in violation of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Unfair Competition Law, and the Unruh Act, Civil Code § 1801.
Facio is demanding a jury trial and is requesting monetary damages, statutory or punitive damages, and restitution for himself and all Class Members.
A separate class action lawsuit revolving around allegedly unsavory loans was filed in California this month by consumers who argue that Wells Fargo and other lenders offer loans to first time home buyers that are designed to fail.
American First Finance competitor Affirm Holdings was accused of tricking consumers into purchasing more, and paying high fees later, with “buy now, pay later” payment plans, in a class action lawsuit filed earlier this year.
Have you been charged a high interest rate after being unknowingly financed by American First Finance? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Robert S. Green, James Robert Noblin, and Emrah M. Sumer of Green & Noblin, P.C., Alicia L. Hinton of the Law Office of A.L. Hinton, and James C. Sturdevant of The Sturdevant Law Firm, APC.
The American First Finance Loans Class Action Lawsuit is Facio v. American First Finance, Inc., Case No. 3:21-cv-08184, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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129 thoughts onAmerican First Finance, Unlicensed in California, Charges Illegally High Interest, Says Class Action
I also received a loan for $1,458 in March of 2023. I pay $77.83 every 2 weeks and the total I pay back is $3,035.49 with an interest rate of 113.64%. The loan will not mature until 9/20/24.
Contact the attorneys listed in the article. They have a form online. They don’t charge. You will also need your contract so they can file the motion on your behalf to receive compensation, refund and discharge the balance of your balance.
i got a lease to own agreement for 7,500$ necklace i paid 2200$ down and was told that if i didn’t meet the 100 day of it would go up to 10,000$ and specifically asked so my interest would be 2,500$ he said “yes”. the papers to sign were given to me to sign behind a glass window and only signature part was in reach .so initially the lease/loan which they say it’s not a loan but still report to debtors was initially 4800$ . After knowing i was not going to be able to meet the 100 day requirement i said oh well 2500 extra is reasonable. i log in to the american first finance portal and it showed that i owed an extra 10,000$ lmao . i called immediately thinking my identity was stolen . they clearly told me no that what was still owed on the merchandise . when i asked what my lease/loan was they said 5 thousand and some . Good thing i looked up laws about it before i called. so i told them well the papers i went to the retailer for to get after finding the ridiculous amount i still owed and had printed out says 4,800 so the representative changed her words back . i am now stuck on paying 770$ a month for a complete 24 months and have now payed about 1,000$ over the initial 4,800$ and still owe 10,000$ it is draining me and my payments are done automatically so there is no escaping. returning the merchandise is a no for the fact that i have paid it in full from original price.i tried calling debt relief places and say it’s out of there hands because it is a lease but still pops up as debt and the amount they see is 3,000$ which makes no sense. i called AFF for a settlement agreement and it was only about 1000$ difference lol its crazy funny . i asked them what can i do to make it somewhere around 3-4,000$ settlement they told me to make about 4 more payments and call back. i also asked how they come up with the settlement price and formula so they use and they refused to let me know . i am now stuck with this 10,000$ interest or so called leasing fee and can not get out unless i turn the necklace in that i have payed so much for . this month i had to call to re arrange a payment date due to hardships and the stress of this is affecting my daily life . if someone is out there to help me out on this lmk
I financed car repairs of $3,600 though American First Finance and was not told of the high interest rates either. To date, I have paid over $2,000 and they slapped me with a 144.45% interest rate. I still owe $3,500 because of this.
A year ago I got a loan for $3000 . Today called to pay it off. Since it’s been a year. I still owe a year later $2,799. I pay 364 a month. Fir the last year and I still owe this much!!! Thought I was almost done. The interest is killing me. I didn’t know it was this much.