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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
American First Finance charges a 144.59% interest on their loans. The company I was going to purchase from is called American Freight here in NC. I saw in the email that I would have to pay like $50 down then so much a month but I seriously think this interest rate is very illegal
We bought a 600 dollar mattress. Paid 4 payments of118 and still owe 586 their ridiculous high on interest. Should be shut down
after finally seeing the finance agreement i realize i will would wind up paying 3 times the amount for the merchandise i purchased. when i tried to return it which was only within 60 days of the initial purchase i was told by the store that sold me the merchandise that they do not take returns on financed merchandise. first finance later gave me the run around in my efforts to cancel this agreement and return the merchandise. total rip off. I see why they are being sued.
Horrible company!!! They overcharge people in interest that is not told to them upfront.
After signing a contract with this company and paying monthly payments. I purchased the early buyout so i wouldnt have to worry about making monthly payments to them anymore. Its been one month, and yet still haven’t closed out my accounts, as to why they have them open when they should have been closed since the accounts have been paid off!! As of today, they are still trying to collect money out of my account. This company is a scam!!! Beware!!!
Yo vivi en florida y recién financie una cadena en una Joyeria con American first y supuestamente ellos me iban a cobrar un interés los de la joyería firmaron el contrato yo nunca firme nada y cuando salí de la Joyeria me llego en un email el contrato me prestaron 3000 dólares y termino pagando 10000 una locuela mas 3000 que pague en la Joyeria alguien me puede ayudar
I’ve been scammed through the same stuff for wheels and tires from koalafi, snap,and American first finance
I recently bought a refrigerator and financed through Amerian First. I made a $500.00 dollar payment for my first payment on a $749.00 original balance. I made this payment on line. Their portal offers 3 options, pay the automatic payment amount, pay the balance or pay a different amount. I opted for a different amount, $500.00. Well they took my $500.00 and also took the automatic payment of $118.09. That’s double dipping. When I called to complain I was told that I needed to call in to make the payment so that the automatic payment could be turned off. I was never informed of this policy and was told that it’s no where in writing. I asked for a refund of my $118.09 payment and was told it was being processed but they couldn’t give any written verification of my refund. I asked to have the automatic payments turned off and was told it’s been done and read a statement concerning this but again no written confirmation that it’s been done was provided. I should have looked this company up before signing the contract and that’s my bad. But making changes to a written agreement should be made in writing just as the original contract. I will let you know what problems I have next month when trying to pay off my account balance, which I was told needs to made over the phone to ensure I receive a payoff letter.
I as many have stated was not aware I was financed by First America I was not shown the breakdown of payments. I did not know at all until they went into my bank account and removed two payments. I called and complained to the finance company. I don’t know what to do now. The interest rate is ridiculous and sounds illegal. I would never had purchased had I known this is how they do business. Please help. Thank yoi
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