ComplaintsforEmpower Finance, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  02/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Empower gives loans , with repayments on payroll days. I had a loan and it was paid on my payroll day of 2/9. On 2/10 I took another loan and did the i'll pay a fee to get it fast, with repayment on my next payday. Which if you look at the last loan, next payday is the 23rd. On the 11th I get a text saying hey your payday just hit today and we are taking repayment. on 2/11. 1 day after the new loan. And charged me a fee. So they took the loan repayment 13 days early, and charged a fee for it. I contacted support several times with no help or luck. The person has no IQ and cant read. I will wait for Empower to respond here before I move further along in my process by reporting them to proper government agencies. I want contact by Empower here, because I did NOT get what I paid extra for. And That is dirty and underhanded.

  Business response

  02/22/2023

  Hello ******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on February 12, 2023, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond. Your complaint alleged that Empower had completed a Cash Advance repayment from your external account prior to your pay date which caused you to be assessed an overdraft fee from your banking institution. Empower takes these complaints seriously and promptly investigated the claim. 
  
  Following our investigation, we determined the following: on February 10, 2023, you accepted and received a Cash Advance in the amount of $100. Empower automatically identifies a repayment date based on prior payroll activity in your linked account. This identified repayment date, February 13, 2023, was displayed to you when you agreed to accept the Cash Advance. Based on our review of your transaction history, it appears that our system recognized a reoccurring deposit into your account as a payroll deposit when it identified February 13, 2023 as your scheduled repayment date. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused. In the future, please know that Empower makes it easy to change your repayment date directly in the mobile app or by contacting customer service there are no fees associated with making these changes.

  In your complaint you mentioned being charged a fee by Empower, however the only fee that was assessed was an instant deposit fee. This fee is charged in order to complete the deposit through your debit card reaching your external account within 1-3 hours. The alternative to the instant deposit is an ACH, which is completely free of charge but can take between 1-3 business days to reach your external account. 

  If you require assistance regarding any overdraft fees that you might have acquired due to this repayment, please contact our customer service team through email at ****************************, so we may reimburse you properly. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concern.
  
  Team Empower

• Initial Complaint

  02/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was charged $8 1-18-23 for empower I got this back from filing a dispute. On 2-1-23 I was charged $8 again. I lost my cards and canceled them when this happened. I did not sign up for empower.

  Business response

  02/23/2023

  Hello *******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on February 22, 2023, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond. Your complaint alleged that Empower has completed multiple $8 withdrawals from your account despite your account being closed. Empower takes these complaints seriously and promptly investigated the claim. 
  
  Following our investigation, we determined the following: We have located a profile under your name that was opened on June 11, 2022. The profile in question is still open which is why you were charged the subscription fees and we did not find any evidence that you previously contacted customer support seeking to close your account.

  Based on the closure request made through this complaint, we will close the profile in question and ensure no further fees are assessed. As a courtesy we will also refund the last fee that was assessed, you should receive $8.00 into your external linked account within **** business days. 
  If you require additional assistance, please contact our customer service team through email at ****************************. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concern.
  
  Team Empower

• Initial Complaint

  02/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Signed up and received a $100 cash advance, and now *********************************************************************** my account, my entire check is being held and I cannot get my funds in my own hands. My account is also negative from the app pushing through the charges "reimbursement"

  Business response

  02/15/2023

  Hello *****,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on February 9, 2023, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond. Your complaint alleged that Empower had completed a Cash Advance repayment from your external account which in turn caused your account to overdraft. Empower takes these complaints seriously and promptly investigated the claim. 
  
  Following our investigation, we determined the following: on January 31, 2023, you subscribed to the Empower platform and accepted and received a Cash Advance in the amount of $100. A repayment date is provided to you at the time of accepting said Cash Advance. The repayment date is based on your payroll, which is determined when you link your account to the Empower platform. 

  By using our products, you accept the terms and conditions provided in the service agreement. The agreement stated that you willingly provide access and permission to review your external account to determine the date your payroll deposit is received. The repayment date is provided to you prior to accepting the Cash Advance, however, if you need to change that repayment date you can do so directly through our App or by contacting our customer service team.  

  If you require assistance regarding any overdraft fees that you might have acquired due to this repayment, please contact our customer service team through email at ****************************, so we may reimburse you properly. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concern.

  Team Empower

• Initial Complaint

  02/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  They keep taking out $8 out of my account even though my account with them has been closed for months.

  Business response

  02/15/2023

  Hello ******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on February 9, 2023, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond. Your complaint alleged that Empower has completed multiple $8 withdrawals from your account despite your account being closed. Empower takes these complaints seriously and promptly investigated the claim. 
  
  Following our investigation, we determined the following: We have located eight (8) different profiles linked to your personal information. While most of these profiles have been closed, two (2) of these profiles are currently open and have active subscriptions. To clarify, the $8 is the monthly subscription fee you agree to pay when your account is opened. 

  We do not have any prior communication from you requesting the profiles to be closed. Based on the closure request made through this complaint, we will close the profiles in question and ensure no further fees are assessed. As a curtesy we will also refund the last two fees that were assessed, you should receive $16.00 into your external linked account within **** business days. 

  If you require additional assistance, please contact our customer service team through email at ****************************. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concern.
  
  Team Empower

• Initial Complaint

  01/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I left my previous job in May 2021. It is now January 2023 and I have not received my 401k Rollover as requested numerous times. The first time I called, in May 2021, I was told that I should review their options before moving to Vanguard and they'd call me back in a few days to see if I still wanted to move my 401k to a Vanguard **** I did. Given the timing, I was moving and they needed time to process a change of address so it would take a bit longer. Seems reasonable to me, so I did my change of address and requested to send to the new address. Not long after, I had an emergency at home requiring full on attention and simply forgot to send the check to Vanguard. I requested a new one, it was in the wrong amount ($2.91 to be exact). I requested another and it never came. I called again and the representative said they won't wire the funds because there is a check out, no funds are in my account, and - as he put "we aren't going to send you our money" which makes no sense because the check was not cashed. I reached out to my previous employer to help me roll it over. On December 1, my previous employer requested the latest check be stopped since I never received it and to wire the funds to Vanguard, providing all instructions. As of last week, 6 weeks after the request, the stop-payment hadn't even been processed. All of this despite a previous note saying it takes 1 week to stop payment and re-issue a check. I am clearly not getting my mail, I do not want another check, I want to wire the funds to Vanguard as it is supposed to be allowed. It should not be this difficult to get my funds out of my account, it should not take this long. I should not be forced into a process that is clearly not working. All I want is what I requested - the funds to be wired into my Vanguard account. No check again.

  Business response

  01/27/2023

  Hello *******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on January 18, 2023, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your request. Specifically, you mentioned that you had a 401k account with Empower that you wished to Rollover into another account, but this request had not been fulfilled. 
  
  We have researched the complaint and determined the following events:  Empower finance, which is the company you contacted does not offer the services you mentioned. I believe you were attempting to contact Empower retirement, which is a different company entirely. 
  We appreciate the opportunity to address the issue and provide you the information listed above.
  
  Team Empower

  Customer response

  01/27/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I have reached out to the appropriate company. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  01/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Empower sent me 3 emails in the middle of the night congratulating me on opening a new account. I was alarmed by this correspondence as I have never applied for nor have I attempted to open an Empower account. The emails appear to be marketing that are designed to look like correspondence with a customer, which is unethical. Here is an example of their wording:"Hi there, Smart move coming to Empower! Make the most of your experience by opening an Empower Card account to get Cash Advance up to $250^, paychecks up to 2 days faster*, and cashback up to 10%*.""UPDATE: Your Empower Card will arrive in 7-9 business days!""Use this link to confirm your email. Verify Email Address"Suffice to say, these are at best dark patterns designed to trick people into signing up for one of their cards, and at worst are deeply cynical attempts to confuse and deceive people into signing up. I am a branding expert and consider this behavior extremely egregious and I will also follow up with the SEC and FDIC.

  Business response

  01/12/2023

  Hello ***,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on January 3, 2023, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your request. Specifically, you mentioned that you had received multiple emails from Empower that you believed to be deceiving since you do not have an account with Empower. 
  
  We have researched the complaint and determined the following events:  On January 3, 2023 an account was opened under the email you provided through this complaint. 
  The account in question was not linked to your name, however your email address was used to open it. In some cases, customers misspell the email address they provide at the time of account opening which might have been the reason for you receiving such emails. We have ensured that your email address is no longer connected to any active accounts with Empower which in turn will stop any further communication to that email address. 

  We appreciate the opportunity to address the issue and provide you the information listed above.
  
  Team Empower

• Initial Complaint

  12/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company has been fraudulently taking $8 per month from my ********** account, for a little over a year now. Ive cancelled my account several times and am still having this issue. They are a payday loan type company, and I NEVER EVEN SIGNED UP with them, forget about actually taking a cash advance from such a SHADY COMPANY. I HAVE NO IDEA, how or why I even have an account associated with this company! As I said, I NEVER signed up with them, and I have NO CLUE, how this happened. I am on a fixed income every month, and Im unable to afford to have some A$$hole company STEALING MY MONEY. Id love to get some help with this if I can, but I dont know how exactly to do that. Bottom line, PLEASE BE CAREFUL, and STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!

  Business response

  01/04/2023

  Hello ******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on December 31, 2022, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your request. Specifically, you mentioned that you had been charged by Empower multiple times for an account you did not sign up for. 
  
  We have researched the complaint and determined the following events:  On March 10, 2022, an account was opened under your name, Social Security Number, phone number and email address. 

  
  At the time of the account opening, a SMS verification code is sent to the phone number provided which coincides with the phone number listed on this complaint. An email is also sent to the email address provided at the time of the account opening, which is also a match to the email you provided on this complaint. It is possible you might have forgotten that you signed up, however we did not receive any communication from you regarding this account until December 30, 2022.  

  
  The $8 fee you are referencing, is a monthly subscription for your Empower account. When we received your email on December 30, 2022, we proceeded with the account closure per your request and were able to refund the last fee that had been charged on the account. We advised you that the refund could take 1-2 business days to post to your account, but that the closure had been completed. 

  
  We appreciate the opportunity to address the issue, and provide you the information listed above.
  
  Team Empower

• Initial Complaint

  11/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company has withdrawn funds from my account that I have disputed several times and they are refusing to stop. *** filed the complaints with my bank, disputing the charges, and they continue to harass me for money. I would like them to stop withdrawing funds from my account IMMEDIATELY. They are a corrupt business who harassed individuals on a daily basis.

  Business response

  12/02/2022

  Hello ******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on November 26, 2022, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your request. Specifically, you mentioned that you had been charged by Empower multiple times and would like for those charges to stop. 
  
  We have researched the complaint and determined the following events:  Based on the email address and phone number you provided; we located two different profiles under your name. 

  On January 14, 2018, a profile was created under your name using the email address that you provided in this complaint. That profile was never charged any subscription fees and a closure was initiated on November 8, 2020. The second profile was created on November 28, 2021, using your name and phone number you provided through this complaint. 

  The profile linked to your phone number has accepted and repaid multiple Cash advances and was the profile where your subscription fees have been charged. Our records indicate that the profile was charged a total of 9 fees, from November,2021 until August,2022. On September 2,2022, the closure of the account was initiated, and no further fees have been assessed.  

  We have attempted to locate communications from you using both emails listed in the profiles located under your name, however none was found. If you have contacted us using a different email address, please reach out to us at [email protected] using the email address you provided through this complaint. We appreciate you the opportunity to provide you the information above.   
  
  Team Empower

  Customer response

  12/02/2022

   
  Complaint: 18464463
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  I requested several times for my account to be closed PRIOR TO WITHDRAWING ***** FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT. 
  

  there was nowhere that I signed WITH MY ACTUAL SIGNATURE for these withdrawals to occur. 
  

  I have been in contact with my lawyer and they have stated the following information regarding withdrawal of cash advances when they have been denied:

  Greetings, *************

  under the appropriate documentation, Empower Financial should have sent you several letters prior to declining your banks dispute. If you did not receive any letters either via mail or to your e-mail address, there are no legal grounds for them to withdraw the funds without attempting to file some sort of legal documentation to your person so you could dispute the charges or have them request the funds directly from you. 
  

  at this time, I am REQUESTING THE ***** be returned to my bank account immediately or I will be forced to begin legal action again Empower ********* for their heinous business methods. This is absolutely disheartening, ridiculous, and in all honesty, at a time when we should be following the appropriate laws set by each state, were simply disregarding such laws. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business response

  12/12/2022

  Hello ******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint response you submitted on December 6, 2022, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your request. Specifically, you mentioned that you had been charged by Empower multiple times and would like for those charges to stop and the funds be refunded. 
  
  We have researched the complaint and determined the following events:  Since our last response, you have not contacted our support team through email or phone for us to locate the account in question. 

  The two profiles located under your name have been both previously closed and no charges have been completed. We are looking forward to assisting you with this matter but cannot do so unless you reach out to us and provide the information requested. 

  We have attempted to locate communications from you using both email addresses listed in the profiles located under your name, however none was found. If you have contacted us using a different email address, please reach out to us at [email protected] using the email address you provided through this complaint. We appreciate you the opportunity to provide you the information above.   
  
  Team Empower

  Customer response

  12/12/2022

   
  Complaint: 18464463
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  Empower deserves to be shut down for harassing people the way they do and stealing from them 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  11/02/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had an advance set to be repaid on 11/01/22 in the amount of $104.99. They took the money from my account as agreed and the charges cleared. They then proceeded to run the same charge again today - 11/02/22 for the same amount! Now my account is overdrafted by $97!! Bank can't file a claim until the second, and fraudulent charge, is no longer pending but advised me that Empower can reverse the charge. **************** is a freaking joke. I did a chat and email string with their support who kept denying a second charge, and then kept telling me I just had to wait until the charge drops off!! NO! You took money that didn't belong to you! My account will be negative and keep aquiring overdraft fees every day it sits! Then I called customer service...twice. First time some unprofessional guy named ***************** up and refused to escalate the call. Second time, some other guy actually looks into it, sees that there was in fact a second charge that wasn't supposed to be made, but refused to find a supervisor or reverse the charge. Then he hung up because of a "high call volume." Scam of a company. They openly acknowledged "making a mistake" but refuse to correct it in a timely manner. Seems intentional. I shouldn't have to suffer for someone else's s**** up.

  Business response

  11/10/2022

  Hello *******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint response you submitted on November 3, 2022, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your request. Specifically, you mentioned that you had been double charged for a Cash Advance repayment which caused your account to become overdrawn. 
  
  We have researched the complaint and determined the following events:  On October 9, 2022, you accepted and received a Cash Advance of $100.00 into your external account. The transaction was set to be repaid on November 1, 2022. 

  On November 1, 2022, a repayment was initiated from your external account, which was completed successfully. You reached out to us on November 2, 2022, to let us know that the transaction was processed twice from your account which caused your account to overdraw. The email thread was escalated, and you were advised that the transaction was still pending by your financial institution and would remain that way until the merchant verified your card. We also let you know that the transaction would drop off the transaction was a pre-authorization or would be completed if your financial institution processed it.

  On November 3, 2022, you reached out to us via phone to advise us that the charge was still pending in your account. We reviewed your account, and our records indicated that the charge had only been processed once from our end to which we let you know that the preauthorization had to be discussed with your financial institution. On November 4, 2022, you demanded that we release the pre-authorization to which we replied that it wasnt something we could expedite since it was up to your bank. 

  While we understand that this was a frustrating situation, unfortunately we are not able to expedite pre-authorizations from clearing or dropping off your account. We do see that on November 1, 2022, however, you were able to obtain a separate cash advance for $250.00. Finally on November 5, 2022, you reached out to us to revoke ACH authorization to ensure that no further charges were completed from your account. We appreciate the opportunity to communicate this information to you. 
  
  Team Empower

• Initial Complaint

  10/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The company in question had no problem taking money out of my externally linked bank account. Then I shut down my bank to move my account to a more affordable option to bank with and then I nooner takes away my account t number and wont let me transfer my money at all. I have almost $1500 in my savings in empower and the only option they give me is to delink back to the same account. I need my money from this fraudulent company I cant pay the 8$ in app. It wont let me adjust or fix my late payment without my old account that doesnt even exist anymore. Im behind in my bills due to me not being able to pull my money out. Im utterly uldiaguiatinf lol ttoooooo

  Business response

  10/09/2022

  Hello ******,
  
  We received the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint you submitted on October 6, 2022, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your request. Specifically, you mentioned that you had funds in an Empower account that you were unable to access. 
  
  We have researched the complaint and determined the following events: Based on the information you provided through this complaint we were not able to locate an account under your name. We would be more than glad you assist you in accessing your account once you provide us with the information to locate the account in question and proper verification is provided. Please reach out to [email protected] for further assistance in this matter.    
  We appreciate the opportunity to communicate this information to you. 
  
  Team Empower

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩