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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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130 thoughts onAmerican First Finance, Unlicensed in California, Charges Illegally High Interest, Says Class Action
In Texas I purchased a sofa for$1200 with deferred payments for 3 months. Was told payments were going to $34 and they started charging me the same day for the amount of $101.70. They have charged us twice a month for a year now. Making our $1200 sofa has now cost us over $2200. That’s over 50% interest.
Financed 3,100 for my Frenchie and now they’re saying i owe 11,000. 8,000 in interest charges. Which is illegal in the state of Florida. I had no idea. Put a stop payment on my bank account and they changed their id number and took the money out anyways. I need help
I don’t live in California but I bought a sofa set from conns and got my loan down to just over a thousand after the 90 days interest free I was not notified that the interest would be raised. My balance is now over 4k and I don’t understand how.
I have a loan through them now and I was paying off my washer early, 90 day pay off. I got my washer down to $350 and called today and it’s $690 and when I checked my checking account to prove that I made my payments some how they have erased their name and payments out of my account???? I called them and they claimed they credited my account 200 but their is no record in my checking account of any transaction.
I have a loan through them now and I was paying off my washer early, 90 day pay off. I got my washer down to $350 and called today and it’s $690 and when I checked my checking account to prove that I made my payments some how they have erased their name and payments out of my account???? I called them and they claimed they credited my account 200 but their is no record in my checking account of any transaction.
I WANT TO SUE THEM! PLEASE CALL ME SO I CAN JOIN THIS LAWSUIT!
6606197978
Same here got a quad now it went up alot my contract says we bought furniture so does my wives
Just happen to me how do I join???
3500 loan AAMCO dude told me I can pay it if early in 90 days and beat the interest- did not see the fine print I paid 50$ to start the loan and was dumb to believe was 100 month -turned out to be 200 by weekly for 10k plus to pay back err Did not see that stupid crazy interest rate
I have the exact same story as Facio. Since I am a female and I was buying tires and rims for my car I was TOLD by the tires and wheels place to go through American First Finance because they will approve me with very low interest rate. And just like Facio I was approved but did not read any contract. It was on a Saturday so I was told they were close and they will contact me with all contact information. I did not get anything. Next thing you know, they are taking money out of my account WEEKLY. I called and they made no sense. I am overly upset with this. I was blind sided and tricked into this.
How do I get out of this ?
Purchased a set of tires for $1200, kept making the weekly payments, once we realized it should of been paid off we logged on and it said we still owe $1400?! They charged us an absurd amount for FEES. How can we get in on this lawsuit? This company is literally stealing our money.
Went to Midas to get a loud squealing noise fixed and they found 3 things wrong with my car that had to be set up in 2 separate appointments because I couldn’t get it all done in the same day. Midas ended up creating 2 different accounts with American first finance with me which means I would be having to make 2 separate weekly payments but Midas told me not to worry and that I’d be able to call American first finance to combine both together in to one account. I called and they were unable to do so. I was told by Midas that the monthly amount would be around $50 a month but I am being charged over $20 a week for each account so I am paying almost $200 a month for both accounts! Which is way more than the $50 a month Midas told me I’d be paying to begin with ! When I signed my papers Midas explained to me that it would say $20 weekly payments right now but once I leave I could call American first finance and have them change that payment to customize it to whatever I want. Once I called they said that’s not true and that I have to pay what I agreed to and if I want them to send me a copy of my contract . After reading these contracts I am being charged $546 on a $500 loan . Why am I going to have to pay back over double the amount ? And the other loan is for $411 but I have to pay back $202 of interest . It doesn’t make sense id have to pay sooooo much interest and feels completely illegal and was never what I was told . They lied to me to get me to sign and told me that I’d easily be able to get American first finance to fix everything after and they tell me they can’t help me with anything and to contact Midas ! I was told I wouldn’t have to pay any interest at all as long as I paid it within 3 months but every single payment I make half of the payment is going towards interest . I’m in Las Vegas Nevada