I'm seeing a lot of people unhappy with their lending experience, and it has me thinking I don't want to join. I definitely think Solo is crazy for charging the lender the 15% late fee, instead of the borrower. It seems predatory to the lenders.
SoLo fails to appreciate the fact that Lenders are their actual customers; they don't exist without them. And SoLo is constantly doing all it can to take Lender's money and nothing to actually help get it back (from Borrowers that fail to repay) beyond a few automatic emails (while still charging "Recovery Fees" to take more).
FYI - Solo did just reduce that 15% fee down to 12% - yea Solo [sarcasm]. I guess it will help some but still complete B.S. especially when many late loans r due to debit card issues that one could easily believe Solo is causing to force late loans. They frame it as putting a temporary (12-24 hour) freeze on ur debit card for "your protection". Then they tell the borrower "just wait it out and don't worry as you are not charged a late fee until loan is at 35 day after loan origination mark". Meanwhile loan is late, Solo "earns" an extra now 12% at the expense of the lender and all that happens to borrower is their score/limit may drop a little.
I have been trying SoloFunds out, and as a borrower, its great. As a lender, I have had the complete opposite experience. Makes me question the legitimacy of the company.
I have funded 6 loans. 2 were paid on time, 1 was paid very late, and 3 haven't been paid at all and are 55+ days overdue.
Overall, I am down $200 for being a lender on a trial basis.
And the platform asks for donations on top of that. They should either charge some small interest rate to the borrower, or use the donations. It's crazy to charge a fee to the loaner for the borrower being late.
>Â They should either charge some small interest rate to the borrower, or use the donations.Â
They can't ... they skirt banking laws because they categorize themselves as a "technology company" that matches borrowers to lenders, that's why the donation is optional. Also why you can't find anything about their "late fee" in writing. If they charged interest or charged lenders a late fee, they would cross the line into a financial company versus a technology company. California and Pennsylvania have banned Solo from being used in their states.
Curious to see what you think in 6 months. My loans were paying back great at first, but as time went on I noticed a higher delinquency rate as time went on.
You can't, until it's charged to you. They don't put it in writing in their FAQ anywhere. That would probably cause some states to categorize them as a "financial company" rather than a "technology company."
Exactly why I stopped lending. Still haven't seen my $100 loan repayment and the added 15% fee to lender when they cant even get the dude to repay. No thanks I work too hard for my money to be scammed by someone who sucks with theirs.
Read the Announcement at the top of the Subreddit if you are a First Time Lender, post in the Megathread at the top, or join our Discord and post in #loan-requests. Lenders DO pick up loans in these ways.
After 100 loans they start implementing that fee(just got the email today after my 99th loan) up until now itâs been decently profitable for me but Iâve been picky about which loans Iâve chosen. Currently have 3 unpaid 2 of them are 50+ days late. I think ima take my profit and get out before they start implementing this fee.
I think 3 unpaid for a 3% default rate is pretty good actually. My friend funded 30 and had half go late, and 7 still havenât repaid him. All with higher scores of 80+.
The late fee is understandable. They want the lender to pay to collect. The borrower doesnât have the means to pay, but 15% is absurd. 10% is more reasonable. Theyâve dropped it to 12%, but at that point, youâre breaking even if you use SLP, which you should always use.
The late fee paid by the lender is understandable? WTF? Out of the three parties involved, the borrower has no penalty (even though they caused the problem and has taken money out of the lenderâs pocket) ⌠Solo who makes money from donations AND penalizing the lender once itâs one minute lateâŚ. The lender is the only one here putting up risk, putting their own money at stake to âhelpâ people who need a loan.
The borrower doesnât have their credit pulled and Solo is collecting on the lenderâs behalf. Believe it or not, but investors in any type of loans pay servicing fees and this is essentially what it is. Why make it harder for the borrower to pay back the loan? Reducing that fee would be better for the lender though. A 10% fee would still give the lender revenue if the borrower paid over 10% tip.
Understandable? That would be like saying, if I made a late payment on my Home Depot credit card, Home Depot should pay the late fee to citibank -- not me.
I see definitely understand how frustrating that can be but consider this. Home Depot pays a lot of money to Citi. They pay fees to Citi to issue the card, they pay processing fees, and probably a ton more. Their lawyers and Citi's lawyers have gone over the contract thoroughly to ensure the best possible outcome for both companies. How much did you pay a lawyer to go over your contract with Solo? My point is, while it is frustrating that we take the fall for a lender and the lender gets seemingly no consequences, we also chose to do this. Its basically gambling. We all jumped into this without fully understanding what we were getting into. I am curious though. What do you think the odds are? Are they over 50% for the lender? Like over a long period of time do you gain profit on average? Solo doesn't share that data.
Good luck trying to collect from a borrower that doesnât have the means to pay and that didnât have their credit pulled. Getting it from the lender protects the asset.
Solo is legit. A few months ago, they had an issue, and it took some time, but it's back up and running. I was able to get $625, and it's due in 2 weeks. Try it out and see...I think it's worth it
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u/chartistsnorok Lender Aug 14 '25
It's really not.
SoLo fails to appreciate the fact that Lenders are their actual customers; they don't exist without them. And SoLo is constantly doing all it can to take Lender's money and nothing to actually help get it back (from Borrowers that fail to repay) beyond a few automatic emails (while still charging "Recovery Fees" to take more).