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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
They made me believe that it was a loan not a lease program. They are charging me at 102% more then the cost which I wasn’t made aware of until after I signed the documents. Lease fees cost more then the 4 tires I needed
I was told my loan was $3200..00 and then was told that I only qualified for $2800.00. I just looked up my account and it says the lian is for $3800.00! Please HELP!!!
I have paid over 2 thousand towards what I thought was just over 3 thousand dollar loan and when I looked to see what I still owed it’s almost 8 thousand and it’s like I haven’t made no payments toward the loan definitely not what I thought it was supposed to be. Items I have definitely aren’t worth 10 thousand dollars not even close.
I have been a victim of a 180% interest rate from American First Finance. Please let me know how I can join this lawsuit.
I used AFF as well to purchase a gaming console from an electronics store in Long Beach, CA. I was told the same thing, that if I paid within 100 days I wouldn’t pay interest. I didn’t go with that option but I just now realized that I have paid way more more money in the past year for this and I’m still not done and I can’t log in to the website… please, someone send me a message so I can be part of this lawsuit as well. Thank you.
You should have received a post card at the address they have on file for you when you made the purchase. For California how I found the attorney I typed in American First Finance attorney last name Hinton and there’s a online form to fill out but get your account number ot you could possibly use other identification so that they can look up your account and file your claim for you. There’s no charge or fees. AFF has to pay the fees. A judge stated that it should be settled through arbitration instead.
I’m not trying to agree with American first finance but everyone knew what the interest loan was before u took the money. Like me. 300 loan and I have to pay back something crazy like 2,000. But I knew what I was getting into before I signed. Yes it’s ridiculous interest rates but that’s how they r still in business. People are broke and they give people that normally wouldn’t get a loan a chance cause my credit sucked bad they approved me anyways
Im currently yelling at them on the phone now because this was not my agreed amount.
American first finance got me for over $7500!!!!! Makes me sick. I tried to pay it off multiple times and somehow they just couldn’t take my payment.. I’m livid over this
I have a victim also of American first finance I’ve been charged accrued interest every week and when I call and explain to them do they charge occurring interest they told me no but yet they send me a chart of my payments due dates and it states in black and white that they charge accruing interest every week even if I make my payment of $50 they are only deducting $3 off of my account I was never told or shown the interest rate or the financing charges upon purchase and when I call and ask him to explain what accruing int stands for on the chart they send me they try to avoid the question or not answer so I explained to them that if they look it up it stands for accruing interest so I asked him do you guys charge interest or not and they tell me no but yet clearly I have the PDF chart they send me with the occurring charges every week I was told that after the 100 days there will be a $500 financing charge place on top of the remaining balance because it was not paid off within 100 days and I was told this over the phone by an employee and a supervisor today on January 9th 2023 I call American finance again and ask them why am I being charged accruing interest and they tell me that after the 100 days since I did not pay the full remaining amount that the finance charges are $2,000 it seems that this company is scamming people and after I told them that if they are taken to court and ask to define what accruing int stands for they refuse to answer the question as if they do not understand what I’m talking about but yet I have the PDF they sent me clearly in black and white that shows accruing int accruing interest for every week you can hear them whisper to each other over the phone as I am talking to them trying to figure out what to say or to offer me due to the fact that I am telling them that this is evidence and everything they’re telling me is a contradiction they say they don’t have a corporate office and that they only have a PO box and no physical address and that they are located in Dallas after I told them that I was subpoena the recordings as my evidence and also the PDF chart of the charges that they sent me will be considered as evidence they tried to give me the runaround and say they will call me back and I told them no that I will wait for supervisor and they offered to settle to close that account for 300 which I paid to close the account but I would like to file a lawsuit against him for fraudulent activity
I was giving a loan for 3200 and when I check my portal I see my pay off balance 6000 I add up all the money I already paid then it came up to 4700 so this mean I paying them 11,000 for a 3200 loan I need to know how to file a lawsuit against this company