Drummond sues OneMain Financial for alleged bait and switch scheme

OKLAHOMA CITY– Attorney General Genter Drummond and 12 other state attorneys general have announced a lawsuit against OneMain Financial, Inc. and related entities alleging that the installment lender charged consumers nationwide hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden fees and interest.

With 19 branches operating in Oklahoma, OneMain Financial advertises high-cost installment loans with “clear, upfront terms,” but it packs those loans with hidden insurance policies and other add-on products that inflate the cost of the loans by hundreds or thousands of dollars. OneMain rushes consumers through fine-print loan documents containing dense terms and conditions for the add-ons. OneMain often hides the add-ons, sometimes misrepresents them, or even charges consumers who outright reject them.

“Oklahomans deserve honesty and transparency when they walk into a lender’s office,” Drummond said. “Lenders should not be hiding costly products in the fine print or rushing borrowers through contracts. My office will continue to hold companies accountable when they attempt to take advantage of hardworking consumers.”  

The lawsuit alleges the following about OneMain’s bait and switch scheme:

• OneMain does not advertise that it sells add-on products, so consumers who come through its doors have no reason to expect the company to push these products.
• OneMain has written policies that purport to prevent unlawful add-on packing, but the company’s actual processes operate nothing like its written policies.
• OneMain puts financial pressure on its employees to pack add-ons.
• OneMain rushes consumers through a loan closing process in which its employees often control the computer screen that shows the loan documents. This does not allow the consumer time to review each page of the loan application as the employee scrolls through the contract.
• OneMain buries the fine print that mentions the add-on products inside 50 pages of legalese, which OneMain prevents consumers from reading before accepting the loan contract.
• OneMain often closes loans on smartphones, where already small print shrinks to an illegible size.
• OneMain also misleads consumers when encouraging them to refinance their loans by tacking on add-on products and by hiding key terms.

With this lawsuit, Drummond and the coalition are seeking restitution for consumers who were unlawfully charged for these add-on products, penalties for violating state laws, and to release all unlawful profits. The lawsuit also seeks a court order preventing OneMain from continuing its illegal practices and requiring OneMain to withdraw any negative information reported to credit agencies that may impact its customers’ credit scores and to abandon any legal proceedings against customers related to the add-on loan products.

Joining Drummond in this lawsuit are the attorneys general from Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Any consumers who believe that they or someone they know may be a victim of the business practices of OneMain Financial should file a complaint with Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General Consumer Protection Unit at 1-833-681-1895.

Read the lawsuit.

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