Got an e-mail from PNC telling me that I'm pre-selected for a personal loan offer, so I navigated there to check out their rates for craps and giggles (I'm in the garden until March 2023, so the offer would have to be exceptional for me to take it, but I was willing to check).
After informing them of my zip code, I got to a page where I could view rates
Looking at the above, you'd think the rate ranges for the loan as listed, right? For ex: for a $35k loan with a 3yr repayment period, the rates would range from 5.99% to 9.34%. Not bad, all things considered.
WRONG
You've gotta click the 'Important Disclosures' link to see the real rates
5.99% to 25.49%?! Why not just put that on the freaking rates table instead of hiding it? If they wanted to advertise the lowest rate, just say something like 'Rates as low as 5.99%!' and have your footnote with the full range of rates. Just really irritating that these places do stuff like this.
Sorry, I'm not seeing what's deceptive. You got a pre-selected offer based on the information they have and they showed your offers. Once you apply and they HP, they'll be able to gauge your credit worthiness more accurately. If it's in line with what they have, you get a solid apr within the offer range. The disclosure is simply saying if your credit worthiness is worse than they believed, it could be as high as 25.49%, if they even give you an offer at all.
Most lenders only SP once a month. A lot can change in a month. There's nothing deceptive going on here.
@FinStar wrote:While it's understandable that you may seem annoyed, there's clearly no deception going on.
Just because you are not seeing it the way you expect to see it displayed on their chart, it doesn't translate into a deceptive practice as you claim. If you had applied and received a different rate than the one shown or quoted on the main page and the full rate disclosure or link wasn't present, then yes, that would be grounds for such a claim. Also, just because it's not inherently displayed on the main page or chart, it doesn't mean they're "hiding" it.
The above information is compliant with regulatory disclosure standards with regard to how a financial institution can publish the best product rates available (or a given range) for qualified, targeted or prospective applicants. They also provide and important disclosure link for consumers to be informed on what the full APR or spread consists of.
yes, we know they followed the law LOL, that's why they aren't in court over it. i didn't state 'PNC is breaking the law!' it's just silly and serves no purpose other than causing ppl to overvalue the product they're offering, etc.
it's 'deceptive' because its purpose is to not immediately provide you with the pertinent information to make your choice. in fact, it's to fool you into thinking that you have said information! you're provided with the 'Important Disclosures' link so they can't be taken to court over it. if i go to nfcu's personal loan page, they provide the entire range, which is what we should require of all of these financial institutions.
there should be as few hoops as possible to acquiring the information you need to choose, but that's not what these ppl are worried about, which is annoying.
@difringe wrote:yes, we know they followed the law LOL, that's why they aren't in court over it. i didn't state 'PNC is breaking the law!' it's just silly and serves no purpose other than causing ppl to overvalue the product they're offering, etc.
it's 'deceptive' because its purpose is to not immediately provide you with the pertinent information to make your choice. in fact, it's to fool you into thinking that you have said information! you're provided with the 'Important Disclosures' link so they can't be taken to court over it. if i go to nfcu's personal loan page, they provide the entire range, which is what we should require of all of these financial institutions.
there should be as few hoops as possible to acquiring the information you need to choose, but that's not what these ppl are worried about, which is annoying.
Serving no purpose except to overvalue something is the whole point and purpose of marketing. For many of us it's no longer annoying or deceptive because we're used to it and we expect it. Most successful businesses are successful precisely because they are artists of legally-acceptable exploitation.