Growing frustrated with the SoFi process..

[Anonymous]

Update: (please read the entire thread as this company has since proven to me they are the best there is when it comes to any kind of lending and this was only the first initial post)

Its pretty obvious to me that this company does not quite have it together! The left hand doesn't know what the right hands doing.

Pre-approved for $100,000 personal loan. Uploaded documents over a week ago, yet every time I call, they are telling me they're waiting for documents. Even though I have spoke with one specialist and multiple representatives who have told me they are staring at the documents, there seems to be a major breakdown between receiving them and updating the status of waiting for them. That's the extreme short version. But here's the REAL issues I see.

1) Every time you speak to a customer service rep, there is a ridiculous amount of background noise with dozens of people talking. So loud that sometimes you can't even hear what the representative is telling you, in one case, the representative was asking me to repeat the question because even THEY couldn’t hear it over the back ground noise. Totally unacceptable and extremely unprofessional. Sounds more like a sales call center selling timeshares. I'm waiting at any second to hear a big buzzer go off in the background for the 100th sale..

2) Anything other than basic information and you have to be transferred to a "specialist", which begs the question, exactly what role do the customer service reps perform in? If they can't handle any of the issues or problems then they are nothing but frontline people that serve no real purpose that I can see.

3) So this wouldn't be much of a problem, except you can never get a hold of a specialist. The customer service reps always say the same thing, after putting you on hold for several minutes, sorry but that department is busy and we can't get a hold of anybody. So you have representatives that cannot handle the problem, and a specialist department that is always so overwhelmed and busy they cannot answer their phones or handle the problems that the representatives can't handle.

I'm not feeling too warm and fuzzy about this company so far, but they are the only company I am aware of that goes to a 100k in personal loans.

I will update as this loan is processed and will try to give some more feedback!

[Anonymous]

Update: Getting nowhere with the representatives when asked for a reason why my loan was stuck, asking for documents that has already been received, I noticed that every time I logged on there was a link that said "Email the CEO with your experience"

So I wrote an email stating that the process was very frustrating and also somewhat confusing and there was much room for improvement and that my loan was stuck with no progress being made.

To my shock and surprise within two hours, I received a call from a specialist who is a special liaisons to the CEO and she said she had already reviewed my account and saw what the problem was. It was a glitch and she has now solved the glitch and that the loan is now in the review status. And because I had been delayed for a week she would see if she could push it along.

I have to say I am very impressed! She also went on to say that she will write a memo instructing the representatives what to do next time, as this glitch could have been fixed at their level had they been able to recognize it.

She also apologized for the specialists always being busy and said it was an exceptional and phenomenal week and they were getting buried with biz.

WOW!!!! Doesn’t get much better than that my friends. Not only has she solved the problem, but went the extra steps to prevent this problem from happening again to any future customers. That is simply top notch!!! Her name was Robin.

[Anonymous]

Update 3: Yesterday, approximately 24 hours later, they did 2 hard pulls with TU and EXP (update they only did ONE with Experian that was my fault as I received two FICO notifications that my score had dropped a few points within minutes of each other and assumed...but the other was totally unrelated)

Experian took away 11 points for that one inquiry which was to be expected as I had 6 prior in the last two years and that made my 7th. 3 in the last year.

[Anonymous]

Update 4: It appears the process is moving along nicely now and within 24 hours of the inquiries I did receive a phone call from an individual who is directly handling my request. My contact person so to speak. His name is mike.

But worth mentioning, they do not have a direct phone number or email so it’s not like you can contact them at will. Well you can, but you have to call the main number and then ask to speak to them, and if they are available great, if not, they submit a request to have him call you back.

I did have to contact him twice and he called me several times so I would say I’m very happy with the speed at which it is moving along now. However I cannot say whether this is normal or whether my email to the CEO did indeed push things along faster than normal.

I would venture to say that had it not been for that glitch, the process would have went much smoother and most probably anyone else will not encounter the initial issues I had. But at least if you do, you will now know the correct procedure to deal with it.

It was quite an interesting day today with my income verification. He said my debt to credit ratio and credit scores were fine and had I been receiving normal income the process would probably be over with by now.

I will admit my income is not the norm and as such I took the liberty of sending them 12 months worth of bank statements as well as doing a refined search showing only deposits for the year to asssit them in seeing the income without having to pull out a calculator and go by each month to figure it all out. They only requested 6 months but I kind of knew this would “maybe” be an issue so I over killed it.

Most of my income is based off the sale of my business on a 10 year installment agreement and they are complicated tax returns that includes capital gains. Anyone familiar with the idiocies involved in capital gains as it is related to a tax return and you’ll know immediately what I mean.

Factor in the sale of a business that had a mixture of customers and assets and the calculating is done in such a very weird, complex and bizarre manner, it could all just as well be written in Latin. So it’s perfectly understandable that they needed more info.

Mike is the type of guy I really like to deal with. Fact is the type of guy I would really like just talking to in general. Down to earth, very approachable and you can talk normal with him. He was not pretentious by a long shot. Not like some lenders that sit up on pedestals and look down upon you or have authority syndrome. Mike was very professional and business like, while at the same time, being logical and sensible and realizing there is a world in between those two.

I hope to hear something tomorrow and if so will update.

[Anonymous]

Final Update: So was pre-approved at 9.99 for 100k. But because they have their own algorithms for such things and because my income was not run of the mill, I was approved just now for 90k ($89,904) and the rate went from one tier to another tier (one level up) which was 10.99 vs 9.99. I was ok with that, as just paying another $50 month gets me 9.99 lol.

Overall I am MORE than impressed at the ease of which the entire process took place and HIGHLY recommend this company.

In fact, I am so impressed that I have decided to go ahead and do my refinance mortgage through them as well! That is something I had NO intention of doing whatsoever until just now as I was so impressed. They offer a 0.125 deduction off the mortgage rate being an existing customer and since they already have all of my documentation, I’m thinking the process can only be easier than going through a new company and dealing with their underwriters on this income verification issue I had.

If not for the original glitch I had initially complained about, I am positive this entire process would’ve taken 2-3 days and another few days to have the money in your account. I cannot stress enough again, that this company has INDEED got it together and I wish I could change the title of this thread, but my hands are tied!!!

If I had one issue whatsoever, it would be this. And keep in mind that I WAS approved regardless of this issue, so in a way, that shows they agreed with me, at least partially!!! So this is more general opinion then SoFi. But a little bit of it was.

Tax returns can be manipulated. Everyone makes tax returns come out to their advantage within the confines of the law. Writing things off help you immensely while at the same time, taking away from your income for verification purposes.

So to me, the absolute end all, the bottom line, the buck stops here, should be bank statements. PERIOD. When you have 12 consecutive months showing very regular deposits over the course of the year, I don’t think anything else should be needed for income verification. That’s the Bible.

And as I say, they weighed heavily to my advantage in this situation as I firmly believe without them, verification would’ve been a lot more difficult. And here is where having someone like Mike helps you immensely as I do think he understood that. At the same time, he has to protect his job and get as much documentation as he can! But I still say to ANY lender, that tells the whole story and that should be far more acceptable than tax returns.

That also weighs in as an advantage to why I am giving them my mortgage. Yes I am now a major SoFi fan no doubt. But also hoping the income verification hurdles have been jumped over and the mortgage department can take everything they have at face value!

I will start a new thread called:
“My SoFi Mortgage, Start to Finish” on how the entire mortgage refinance goes from A-Z and give a blow by blow to assist others thinking of going that route.

[pizza1]

wow, thats a huge loan, congrats on it going thru!! Ive heard that the Sofi process can be a but longer than most, but the outcomes are usually positive.