Has Potential But Needs Work (Lender)
From an investors standpoint, this app has great potential, but does little to protect lenders from losing money. I’ve lent over $16,000 to more than 60 individuals and found that most people on this platform pay their loans back late, with many not paying back at all. I found that most of the loans I funded rolled over, giving the borrower an extra 14 days to pay back their debts. I don’t think borrowers should be given an extra 14 days to pay off their debts, especially with all loan terms being 30 days or less. 7 extra days to pay back is enough in my opinion. If someone doesn’t pay back on time they should be over drafted like some auto payments do. If not overdraft, then they’re account should be charged daily until the funds are repaid. The collections process doesn’t seem to be effective at all. If your loan goes into collections, just consider it gone. I don’t imagine anyone paying back a less than $300 debt in collections, especially when borrowing from this app has no effect on their credit score. The solo scoring system is off. I noticed many people have high scores that have never borrowed money on this platform. Contacting support is also a pain. You can only communicate with them via email and they often take a week or more to respond.
If they provided lenders with more payback protection, adjusted the collections process, fixed the scoring system, and added live phone call support, this app would be great.
If they provided lenders with more payback protection, adjusted the collections process, fixed the scoring system, and added live phone call support, this app would be great.
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Response from developer
Hey Biggfran, Thank you for your review. We appreciate your feedback and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We would like to clarify that our collections process is more than an email or two to borrowers. SoLo has an internal process to prevent accounts from going to collections. However, if we are unable to collect loan payments, we pass those accounts onto our collections agency for further action. Those accounts are also blocked from using SoLo and reported to the credit bureaus. When lending, there is always risk involved. We want to ensure our Lenders are aware of that and we have provided some tips on best practices: Checking the SoLo Score and Previous Transactions. As a Lender, you have access to view a Borrower’s transaction history and whether they have paid their previous loans on time. This can help you assess how creditworthy a Borrower has been. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the terms of your loan before lending and borrowing. SoLo does not insure loans at this time, so make sure you are comfortable with the risks you take and read your Loan Agreement carefully. Please email our support team for any further questions you may have at help@solofunds.com. Best, -SoLo Team
Lender beware
I spent one hour reading reviews of this app and did not see NOT ONE! positive review from a lender. Each one complained of losses that were double the profits. Each one! On top of this there were numerous complaints regarding glitches that caused payments and bank accounts to be locked. I hate predatory payday loan companies. In theory this app is a great concept, but the builders have obviously not figured out how to protect their lenders yet! They (you) need to be held accountable and forced to change your methods and protect lenders.
LENDERS! create an online group and document each transaction so when enough of you have compiled a true accounting of the real losses and default percentages you can take them to court! Make sure to follow their recommendations for successful loaning to the letter and document each loan and borrowers stats for proof.
I don’t know what they are missing! Maybe they need to auto withdrawal like payday lenders, maybe they need to verify employment and pay. Maybe they need to raise the loan fee to offset the losses! Maybe they do all of these things and still fail their lenders!
App Developers, you should not be allowed to take one penny when your users are losing hundreds! You need to get your sh#€ straight or close shop!
You are failing!
LENDERS! create an online group and document each transaction so when enough of you have compiled a true accounting of the real losses and default percentages you can take them to court! Make sure to follow their recommendations for successful loaning to the letter and document each loan and borrowers stats for proof.
I don’t know what they are missing! Maybe they need to auto withdrawal like payday lenders, maybe they need to verify employment and pay. Maybe they need to raise the loan fee to offset the losses! Maybe they do all of these things and still fail their lenders!
App Developers, you should not be allowed to take one penny when your users are losing hundreds! You need to get your sh#€ straight or close shop!
You are failing!
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Don’t be a lender on solo!
I used and lended money for a few months with this app and lent almost $5000 to over 25 people so I am speaking with some experience I thought I would be able to make some money with the incredible 10% per month, you can but when you do it enough it’s basically gambling. There’s absolutely no way to know if they will pay you back and you need like 10 people to pay you back for every person that decides to run with your money which will not happen. Solo does a terrible job at the collection process. It has been months since I stopped using because I had lost so much money and not a single person from collections has paid me back. I only lended money to “reliable” people... I lent $400 to someone with a score of 99 and he still didn’t pay me back after 3 months, his record show 12 previous paid on time loans so I thought I was safe but of course I wasn’t. So if you want to gamble to possibly win a little and risk a lot then this is the app for you but if your serious about investing, i wouldn’t take these horrible odds when Solo does basically nothing to get your money back.
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Read this! Ignore the Negative reviews!
Let me walk you through my experience so far with this app. I need a small loan to help pay off a bill that was coming the day before pay day. So I used this app. Followed all the instructions and what not and got my first loan funded! Now listen it takes a minute the first loan, about a day or so to process at most! But this customer support team is the best service I’ve ever gotten!! I must have messaged them 9 times via live chat to talk to them and they were always timely never more than a 2 minute wait. They helped me understand the waiting process and talked me though the whole process. You start with a low line of credit, mine was $100 first Loan max. I got a $50 Loan and paid back within the week so I got a little increase! I took a second loan out this week and I got it funded and in my account in under 5 minutes! Give this app a chance if you really need the help! Will update the review if I can ever try being a lender when I’m more finically stable!
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My review of Solo
I was looking for an app that would loan someone in need with a job that can barrow a couple of bucks here and there and pay it back when payday comes. I tried them all, but every app wanted to be my coach on how to save money. The apps wanted a fee every month, but wouldn’t loan me any money, cause of this or that, but kept taking there $5 a month and I was pretty upset about that. I Googled apps that would loan money and came across a review about Solo Funding, so I said what the heck. I downloaded Solo and registered like it ask me to and requested a loan. I will say if you need money for the future start early with your request, cause Solo takes time to work. Solo is people like you and me loaning money to each other and making a couple of bucks to help. I thought it was crazy, cause for a week I tried and tried and no loan. Finally someone loan me what I asked for and I thought it was the coolest thing and that person came through for me (thank you by the way to whom loan me the money) but that’s just it, I don’t even know who loan me the money, but a BIG THANK YOU to that person. All I can say is try Solo it might work for you, but don’t get frustrated someone will help you just start early with your request before your deadline. Thank you Solo Funding for helping me. 👍🏼
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Response from developer
Hey rp5026, Thank you so much for your review! We appreciate your feedback and we are happy to have you as part of the SoLo community! Best, -Team SoLo
Disappointing and inconsistent
I’ve only used this app as a borrower not a lender. But I’ve had several issues multiple times. When attempting to pay back loans I’ve gotten error messages. The money will be removed from my account but the app will reflect an error and say I’ve defaulted. Customer service advises it’s an error on the lenders end. At one point I tried multiple times over a few days to get a loan and was not able. The app would say there was an error and my loan would be placed back in the market place to try to get matched again. This happened again and again and finally the app said there was possibly a block from my bank. My bank said there was not. Customer service gave the standard “it’s an issue on the lenders end” answer. It’s seems impossible that 6-8 different lenders could ALL have an issue with their own bank accounts. Very frustrating and disappointing. Ultimately it seems this app is no longer for me. Sad because I’m in a bind and now need the money but am unable to get it.
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Serious concerns
Setting up the account was problematic. First, they ask for your bank account login information, likely to fund you contributions. Then they ask for your debit card information. That debit card cannot be a MasterCard - only found that out after inputting my bank account information. You are able to link a debit card from another account, however, so that begs the questions why they need the bank account information to begin with. You cannot change or remove your initial banking information, only the debit card. The fatal flaw in the system seems to be the algorithm for funding. I was unable to fund loans because my bank account showed a zero balance, even though both checking and savings accounts were positive. But my credit card had a zero balance. This prevents me from participating in lending money. When I asked how I can close my SoLo account - I can’t. I can delete the app and the account will remain dormant, but tech support assured me that they will not use my credit card information or any login without permission. I’m definitely not comfortable with that. A very good idea for an app, poorly executed, in my opinion. Never got a change to borrow or lend, so good luck with that.
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Great Idea with poor execution
The idea behind solo funds is great but after several loans you begin to realize how poor the costumer service is. It takes days to respond to emails usually without a resolution. It seems as though problems arise the day you need to pay back a loan or are supposed to be paid back. Most recently I had to pay back a loan and had no issue with the app up until the date the payment was due and it said it now how to verify me through a partner site. This was the second time this issue has happened to me and when I reached out it took 5 days and multiple emails to receive a response. Once this was resolved I immediately had another issue where it would freeze at the loan submission screen. When I reached out again the response was “this is a bug we are aware of try to go back and resubmit” as if I hadn’t tried to resubmit at all. They then told me that they are working to fix this issue app wide and not just individually but multiple weeks later and they even released an update it’s still not resolved and they don’t respond back. Like I said it’s a good idea but their customer service is lacking and there always seems to be an issue.
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This App Is FRAUD
I wanted to believe in this black owned company but it has let me down tremendously. Not only does the app not work correctly but it doesn’t instill any accountability for the borrowers. So, before i discovered all this, I went out on a limb and decided to lend a random person I do not know (According to the acct. she’s just Maya C. from Chicago 👀) $210 with a return of $230 in 2 weeks. That was on March 2nd and it is now April 4th. Not only have I not heard a word as to when I will get my money back but they refuse to contact me directly whenever it “rolls over” again and AGAIN. They are now saying that they will have to send her to collections but who the heck is really going to pay $210 in collections? If they don’t have it now, what makes you think they’ll have it after interest and collection fees??? Seems like they need to do a more thorough check of who they’re letting people lend to. These people need to show employment check stubs so you can see how often and when they get paid so you can then try to charge their accounts when it’s time for payment. This is absolutely ridiculous. I’m SO glad I experimented with just one loan first, wish it was a lot less but after I get my money back I will never use this app or support this company again. If they’re starting to loose investors, that should tell you all you need to know about this company. Period.
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Response from developer
Hello TheePinkist- Thank you for your feedback. I understand your frustration and would like to provide some additional clarity on how our process works. We only allow a borrower to rollover one time. If we are unsuccessful obtaining payment the borrower is given a grace period of 30 days to repay before the account is sent to collections. We have a thorough vetting process during sign up however, circumstances change all the time. Many borrowers that have not paid on the first or 2nd debit attempt usually pay before an account goes to collections to avoid incurring additional fees. With any lending platform small or large payments are not guaranteed. I will have some from our support team reach out to you directly regarding your loan. Thank you!
Lenders carry all the burden
I have been totally dissatisfied with this app. All of the risk is on the lender. If you have a loan go to collections, you just have to trust that the borrower will repay it. But if it goes past 90 days then you only get 50% back! I’ve had two loans go to collections and I have no faith that I’m getting any of that money back since it’s been like 6 months for one of them. Since the collections agency is not in communication with the lender at all, I am not even really sure that the borrower is really getting any penalty or having their credit score affected. I’m just out of $200 at this point. Also the customer service is horrible! I’ve emailed support several times asking about the collections process and about the app not working correctly with my debit card. I still haven’t gotten a response. I agree with other people that I think people are on the app to scam and get money with no intentions on paying people back. The borrower doesn’t really seem to be penalized in any way. I would only recommend this app to people who are trying to borrow money. Seems like only a win for them. Do not lend your money on this site! A possible extra $20 is not worth losing $200!
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