Fintech
Fintech SoLo Funds Forced Customers to Make Donations, CFPB Says
Online lending platform SoLo Funds Inc. forced customers to pay tips and make donations without giving them the option to avoid those payments, artificially inflating the costs of advertised low-cost loans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said.
Los Angeles-based SoLo offers crowdsourced loans that reportedly cost less than typical small-dollar loans. Loans range from $20 to $575, with first-time users seeing their loan amount capped at $100.
SoLo offers customers the ability to pay “tips” to lenders and “donations” to SoLo. But in some cases it has forced customers to do so by removing any options to avoid…