Is It Safe to Work with GreenSky Merchants?

GreenSky is a company that acts as a kind of matchmaker between customers with home improvement projects, merchants and contractors who sell the building supplies and do the work, and lenders that can provide financing for the job.

GreenSky merchants and contractors work directly with the customers and offer GreenSky’s financing services before any work is done. The relationship with GreenSky can help merchants to upsell their customers by giving them access to loans to pay for items they couldn’t afford to pay for out of pocket. Customers should be careful though to understand the true cost of a project proposed by a GreenSky merchant. In some cases, it can be much higher than anticipated.

Some GreenSky clients have ended up suing the company, alleging they were hit with excessive charges.

What Are GreenSky Merchants?

GreenSky merchants are contractors or retail sellers of the building supplies used in home renovations. What makes them GreenSky merchants is their affiliation with the company, which means they offer customers the option of applying for loans through GreenSky to pay for the home improvements they want to have done.

For example, a customer who wants to renovate his kitchen consults with a GreenSky merchant about the scope and cost of the project. The GreenSky merchant tells the customer about GreenSky’s financing options – usually some no-interest, deferred-interest or low-interest promotion – and offers to help the customer apply for a loan to pay for the kitchen work. If he’s interested, the customer applies for the financing via an application on the GreenSky merchant’s smartphone or tablet.

GreenSky doesn’t lend its own money. Its technology works to match the customer’s needs with one of the company’s banking partners and if it succeeds, the credit can be extended immediately. If the GreenSky loan is accepted, the company sends the loan documents to the customer to sign.

“Merchants get the ability to convert customers who are on the fence and upsell other services by offering affordable payment plans,” an analysis by the consumer finance publication The Motley Fool says.

The company says it has facilitated more than a million home improvement projects nationwide and works with more than a dozen of the nation’s top banks.

After signing the loan agreement, the customer gives the merchant or contractor their GreenSky account number to use like a credit card to pay for the work, the company’s website explains.

GreenSky makes money by collecting fees from the merchants and contractors on every transaction and through loan servicing fees.

Where Can I Find the GreenSky Merchant List?

GreenSky offers an online service to help customers locate their GreenSky merchants.

Customers enter some basic information about their location and needs and then GreenSky provides a list of local merchants who provide those services and products.

Have Any GreenSky Merchants Lawsuits Been Filed?

Nearly 250 complaints have been lodged against GreenSky with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The company is also facing multiple lawsuits, including class action lawsuits, over its business practices. And at least one lawsuit has been filed against a GreenSky merchant for wrongdoing and fraud.

The Alabama Attorney General is suing one of GreenSky’s merchants, a plumbing company, over claims it defrauded an elderly customer by arranging for two loans through GreenSky that totaled more than twice the amount of money needed for the work it had agreed to do.

The company has since been shut down and the judge overseeing its receivership found it had facilitated 188 loans through GreenSky that should be deemed invalid.

GreenSky says it knew nothing of the fraud.

How Closely Are GreenSky Merchants Supervised?

According to one of the lawsuits against GreenSky, a class action lawsuit filed in California, the company has failed to supervise its GreenSky merchants.

In the civil complaint filed on behalf of plaintiff Elizabeth Belyea and the rest of the class, “GreenSky long turned a blind eye to the predatory, and sometimes outright fraudulent, practices that were especially rampant among various solar merchants on its platform.”

The lawsuit argues that GreenSky merchants are given “carte blanche to push through loans using its platform … with minimal due diligence.” What’s more, GreenSky merchants are encouraged and coached to upsell and build their finance charges into the cost of the projects to cover the merchants’ costs, which is often done without the customer being informed. “At no point does, for example, a given consumer see that a given merchant might otherwise charge $20,000 for a project but charges the consumer $22,000,” the complaint says.

Should You File a GreenSky Lawsuit?

Customers who have taken a GreenSky loan for home improvements who believe they have been assessed excess charges or who have been defrauded by a GreenSky merchant  might qualify to participate in a class action lawsuit. Consulting a qualified, experienced attorney can help determine if a borrower has grounds to take legal action.

Join a Free GreenSky Credit Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you used GreenSky to finance a home improvement project in Northern California—especially in the Bay Area, including Contra Costa, Alameda, and San Mateo counties—you may qualify to join this FREE GreenSky lawsuit investigation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.