Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/29/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am the victim of identity theft. The criminal with my information uploaded it to Even Financial, which was then sent by them to many different lenders. This occurred on 12/26/22. They did not verify my identity, but simply sent all of my personal information to a bunch of lenders. I found out only after receiving confirmation from the affiliate lenders. They were notified via phone on 12/26/22 and did not follow up with me. I have requested a copy of the application according to the **** and they are refusing to provide a copy of the application, which is a direct violation of the ****. I followed up again on 12/28/22 and was again not allowed to speak with the fraud department or a manager. I spoke with someone named *******************, who would not transfer me to the fraud department or a manager. This company has no safeguards and further identity theft and thy need to be investigated.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/05/2023

  Hello ****, 

  We have received the complaint you filed with the Better Business Bureau and investigated the allegations contained therein.  In your complaint, you state that you have been the victim of identity theft and that the perpetrator submitted your personally identifiable information to Even Financial (Even) who then shared the information with lenders. Additionally, you state that Even failed to verify your identity upon submission of the request for offers; declined to provide you with a copy of the application as requested; and failed to escalate your call internally to a fraud department or manager upon request.  

  
  In order to provide an adequate response to your concerns, it is helpful to first provide an explanation of ***** business model.  Even Financial is an embedded finance marketplace that powers a search engine, Fiona.com.  Even is not a lender. We do not take applications or make credit decisions.  ******** ************* with a network of lenders that offer financial products on our marketplace.  Through Fiona.com, consumers can be matched with offers for financial products, like personal loans, by submitting a request for offers. 
  In order to be matched with offers, consumers must provide some basic information in an offer request form.  The information provided in the offer request form is shared with our lending partners who use the information to generate offers for financial products.  The offer request form is not an application for credit. If a consumer decides to accept an offer from one of our lending partners, they have to submit an application for credit directly with that lender.  As such, Even does not have an application to provide to you. 

  
  We are happy to assist you with your investigation into this matter.  Due to laws governing privacy and data security, we are unable to provide you with the information submitted in the offer request form without following established protocols. We have provided you with directions via email for obtaining the requested information through a subpoena. 
  Furthermore, Even did not make an inquiry into your credit report; make any determinations regarding your creditworthiness; and we have not reported any information regarding you to the  Consumer Reporting Agencies.  Even does not evaluate the information submitted in a request for offers other than to match it with the criteria established by our lending partners. 
  Lastly, we would like to note that Even takes claims of fraud and identity theft very seriously.  We have a fraud handling team and established procedures for handling allegations of identity theft.  When we received a call from you on December 26, 2022, the call center representative documented your concerns and informed you that you would receive a call back from a manager on ***** fraud handling team within 48 hours. On December 28, 2022, within 48 hours from your initial communication, a manager from our fraud handling team spoke with you over the phone and followed up with you via email regarding your identity theft claim. 

  
  We apologize for any inconvenience this matter has caused you.  We are committed to assisting you with resolving this matter.  You can contact our fraud department directly at ************** for additional assistance. 

  Best, 

  ******

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/12/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here]

  ******,

  I have yet to receive a copy of the fraudulent information submitted to Even Financial, which is a violation of the ***** I am again requesting all of the information submitted to Even financial. This does not require a subpoena as you incorrectly state. It is my information and I have a right to it under the ***** 

  I have received yet another notice from one of your affiliates (to mimic your condescending use of quotes) that Even financial submitted all of my information to ****** at ******* ***** on Jan 2, 2023. You clearly have no concern over personal identity or fraud as you have taken no action to stop people from submitting applications with my information. Further action will be taken.

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

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

  Business Response

  Date: 02/10/2023

  We apologize that our initial response did not meet your expectations.  As previously explained, Even Financial (Even) is unable to send you the information you are requesting without following the proper protocols. This procedure is in place to protect consumers personally identifiable information from being shared with unauthorized third parties.  Please note, the **** requirement you reference in your complaint is not applicable to Even. Even therefore has to comply with privacy laws that govern the sharing of personally identifiable information. 

  
  Even is not a lender. We do not take applications or make credit decisions. In addition, Even does not act as a data furnisher to Consumer Reporting Agencies.  Rather, ***** platform powers a marketplace experience for consumers to shop for offers for financial products.

  By submitting a request for offers on ***** platform, consumers are able to compare offers for financial products from various financial institutions providers. Even does not perform any identity checks on consumers who submit requests for offers on our platform. 
  There are no applications for financial products submitted through ***** platform. In order to apply for a financial product, the consumer must click into an offer and be redirected to a financial institution providers site. Any applications for financial products are submitted directly to the financial institution provider.

  
  If you prefer not to seek a subpoena, you may seek the information you requested from the financial institution providers where an application was submitted using your information. We are happy to provide a list of such providers. For more information about our privacy practices, please see our privacy policy at ****************************************************.

  
  We hope the additional information provided in this response addresses your concerns.  If you would like to request a list of providers to whom an application was submitted using your information, please let us know by sending us an email to *****************************

  
  
  All the best,

  *************

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/15/2023

  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 and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/13/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  You passed my information to one of your affiliates who took a loan out of approximately 19k .I was contacted by them on one day inquiring into my loan request of which I knew nothing about and by the time I called the following day the money had been released to a credit union which the lender could not tell me even where the money went . I was contacted by phone about this loan request but NEVER gave my word for this nor have I ever done business with you or your affiliates . Your affiliate had the wrong email ( one I dont have at all and sent money I have no idea where that I am responsible for. I now have multiple inquiries on my credit including a hard inquiry. I have contacted YOU on 2 occasions as suggested in addition to freezing my accounts and all other suggestions for identify theft but you have not reached out to respond to my dispute claim. Terrible and corrupt . Not trustworthy . To be reported. I see there have been other issues of this with your company as well .

  Business Response

  Date: 10/14/2022

  Hello *** ******, 

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Im so sorry to hear that you have been a victim of identity theft. Our team has reviewed your complaint and investigated the allegations therein.  I do see that you called our help line on September 29, 2022. I apologize your call was not properly escalated to our fraud team. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate any information in our loan offer system that matches your personally identifiable information. However, we understand that one of our partners indicated they received your information from Even Financial. 

  We want to assure you that we take identity theft very seriously and are committed to helping you in any way that we can.  In order to properly address your concerns, it would be helpful to first explain what Even is.
  Even Financial operates an embedded finance marketplace that powers Fiona.com, a search engine for personalized financial services offers (such as loans). We are not a lender. Rather, we provide consumers personalized financial offers from our network of lenders based on their search criteria and personal information submitted in their request for financial product offers on our site. As such, Even does not take any loan applications. These are handled directly with the lenders on our platform. Nor do we contact consumers about the status of their loan applications by phone or email.

  In addition, Even does not make hard inquiries into a consumers credit report. A hard inquiry, as you have described, would have been performed by a lender in the process of a formal loan application. Any questions regarding a hard inquiry made in your name (and any corresponding changes to your credit score) should be directed to the lender in question. Searches for financial product offers on Fiona.com may result in a soft pull of information in a consumers credit report which does not impact a consumers credit score.

  If you believe you are the victim of identity theft, we encourage you to visit the Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) official website at *****************, where you can find helpful information about being a victim of identity theft. I do apologize for the experience that youve had. If theres anything more we can help you with, please reach out directly at *****************************.

  Best,
  

  ***********;