SoLo Funds: Lend & Borrow Reviews

by Dipsos1

I spent one hour reading reviews of SoLoFunds 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 SoLoFunds 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!

by Dat Dood B

SoLoFunds has been a nightmare since I first started over two years ago. Loans not being repaid and sent into collections yet the very borrowers who aren’t repaying the loans are allowed to still borrow from other people. Clearly their is an issue with their rating system for borrowers. To top it all off, I’m currently getting the same email every night that a two year old loan, which was sent into collections, has been repaid...BUT IT HASN’T. When I reached out to this app for clarity, they told me there is a “bug” in their system and they will get it fixed so I can stop getting the same false email every night. Fast forward a month and I have 30 of the same email sitting in my inbox and they have stopped responding to my email requests for them to fix their error. I’ve reached out via social media and the response of “it’s a bug it will be fixed” doesn’t ease my mind. The idea behind SoLoFunds is great but their execution and customer service has been abhorrent.

*UPDATE and now they want me to email them AGAIN after I’ve opened multiple cases via their website and contacted them through social media channels and been dismissed. The customer service from this company has been SHOCKING. I still receive emails every night and still have multiple loans in collections with no end in sight. I thoroughly regret joining SoLoFunds.

by Try Another Lending Site

Don’t use SoLoFunds at all. I lent out 4 loans to people with high scores and only have gotten one payment back. This company has no way of guaranteeing the lender, and there is no interest on the loans just “tips”. So the borrower isn’t actually required to pay back the so called 10 percent tip if they don’t want to. So basically the lender loans out money with a tip thinking there gonna make a little profit, but may just get back what they loaned out of the borrower pays. There communication is horrible because they only work through email and reply back to you in like two weeks, and sometimes not at all. They have this retarded donation crap that the borrower can choose to donate to the company. So basically the lender loans money to both the borrower and the company. The company makes out beautiful but the lender takes all the risk. And they try to promote it like we’re helping out each other. That’s a bunch of crap. They only give you the option to send an unpaid loan to collections, but seriously how many people actually pay back a couple hundred dollars in collections. If you’re new to lending money go to another peer to peer platform that gives more professionalism and protection to the lender if the borrower doesn’t pay back.. take my advice and don’t waste your money and lose it to this horrible company that needs to be closed. After all it’s always about making money.

by TheePinkist

I wanted to believe in this black owned company but it has let me down tremendously. Not only does SoLoFunds 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 SoLoFunds 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.

by Shauna212000

I really love this concept so I tried it in 2018. I was repaid late, but I was repaid. I thought I’d give it another try about a month ago bc I have more disposable income. Now I remember why I abandoned and deleted SoLoFunds 2 years ago. I only funded 2 loans for a total of $200 or so. Both are in collections and Solo has deducted a “recovery fee” before I can even hope to get anything back. There is no one to communicate with. I’m completely in the dark. They didn’t even bother to notify me that the loans were officially in collections and that they were deducting their fees from money I don’t even have yet (and will probably never get). Find a different way to help people. This experience is so bad it feels borderline criminal. Solo gets their “donations” off top and the borrowers get your money. Then Solo gets more if they ever recover anything (if they even try) and any tip you were anticipating is negated. You walk away in the negative.
Solo - don’t bother responding with your canned responses. Spend that time developing a better app, business model, and lender protections. Hopefully this scheme will collapse when there are only borrowers and no lenders left. DON’T DO IT.
There are batches of glowing 5 star reviews lately. I wonder if they’re paying for them or incentivizing borrowers to write them.

by Tyff Dev

SoLoFunds definitely needs a lot of improvement! For 3+ months I tried creating an account in SoLoFunds. It would continuously tell me to “start recovery” to verify my identity. I uploaded my DL, which has my address on it, the address that was on my account, and verified my SS number. There were no security questions or anything to help this process along. I was then left with an message that it could take up to 48 hours for the verification process. I then waited and opened SoLoFunds up and behold, “start recovery” process alert again. I dealt with this for 3+ months and even contacted support with 4 tickets. I was told to delete SoLoFunds and re-download it and I still had the same issue. My other tickets were ignored and not responded to. I finally submitted one final ticket and was told their lender can not verify my identity and so I would not be able to use their app. No security questions to answer about my identity or anything, even with me uploading my DL with address on it. My SS number is even attached to me. I have used other apps such as Brigit, Dave, Cleo, and MoneyLion with no such issues. My suggestion to anyone is to stay away from SoLoFunds and use the ones I recommended they are all legit apps that will loan you money no issues whatsoever. SoLoFunds is an waste of space and time. I do NOT recommend it.

by @ChrisTPerkins

I use SoLo for lending money to borrowers. Im leaving a one star review because I notice that SoLo isn’t very open about the fact that borrowers don’t HAVE to donate to SoLo and the option to turn off donations to SoLoFunds is located in the settings section under profile. To get there tap “Profile” at the bottom of the screen, then tap “Settings” in the top right, then tap the “SoLo Donations” toggle switch to the off setting (its on when the switch is Green). People are paying lots of money in donations to SoLoFunds and the people lending the money are getting even less. SoLo offers lending protection to the lenders, which we pay 5% of the loan value for if we want it, and then SoLo turns around and keeps the tip (that SHOULD go to the lender) if it’s paid back as well! I would love to see how much money SoLo is making off of borrowers AND lenders… totally taking advantage of people in need and disguising their app as a way to “help” people. If you’re going to borrow on SoLoFunds , I highly recommend turning off SoLo donations. If you’re lending on SoLoFunds , I highly recommend using caution because I’ve gotten so many loans that have never even been repaid, you end up throwing money out the window if you aren’t cautious. I’ve learned from my mistakes.

by Bbdbiuueqfruoeuufroruufeiuo

I started using the Solo Funds app at the beginning of 2019. Everything was going great I was a lender and was lending money to about 4 people at a time with each giving 30$ in tips so I was making about 120$ a month for about three month just lending out money, then 2 of the people I lended money to didn’t pay me back equaling to over 700$ in lost over my personal money. I gave it a few months because doing anything but now it’s been over a year and a half since this happened and I still haven’t heard anything from SoLoFunds nor they third party collections team. I don’t think they hold people accountable enough when they don’t pay the money back and the person that gets screwed is the lender. Also, after lending so much money out my score never went up it stayed at 49 points. I tried messaging SoLoFunds and the first time I didn’t get a response, now about a week ago I messaged them again and they only said sorry to hear that that they’ll contact they’re collections team and I should be hearing from them soon. I’ve been in the air for over a year not nothing anything about where is my money or any information of the people that have it.

by Cfunk1984

Easy to get excited about, but the results from the lender side aren’t worth it.
The rating system isn’t anything you can trust. I’ve had several loans to individuals with a near perfect score and those didn’t pay back. SoLoFunds just says they are overdue but provides no additional information (after several months of the loan going unpaid) of any collection attempts.
I would love to see a log of collection activities or any other communication about what’s going on with a loan. There aren’t even dates in SoLoFunds showing when a loan was issued or paid back (when they do pay back).
I gave this a solid try. Loaned over $17k. THIS SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT BE CONSIDERED AS AN INVESTMENT VEHICLE. I’m one of many reviews out there where people have had a very similar experience. You will lose money, the wins are not enough to make up for the losses. The potential ROI is easy to get excited about. Then 3-4 months later you realize that the actual return is a loss.
Not to mention SoLoFunds just stopped working for everyone for about a month... did any of my loans pay back during that time? I hope not because I wasn’t notified of any payments during that month.

by Biggfran

From an investors standpoint, SoLoFunds 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 SoLoFunds 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, SoLoFunds would be great.

by Redd8195

I used to have SoLo funds a long time ago. I opened my account, asked for a loan and waited patiently as I knew just starting out a loan was not going to come immediately. Months went by and no bite. By that time, my emergency had passed and obviously I still ended up in a bad way with no money. Smh. So if you’re just starting out and you’re in a super emergency bind...DO NOT RELY ON SoLoFunds. Use SoLoFunds as a future loan kind of thing. Like you missed three days of work during your pay period but you know you have an important bill due or something. Second thing, my debit card stopped working with SoLoFunds. I had no idea why. I stopped using SoLo. I started using apps like Dave and Float Me and Albert if I was really in a pinch! Sorry SoLo. I decided to try again. I was ready for the waiting and everything....they don’t process MASTERCARD now! This is really inconvenient and I recommend they shut SoLoFunds down until they are able to accept other forms . People really need help. And going through the whole “You can start using SoLo app” stuff then to find out your card isn’t accepted is unacceptable. I could see if it’s a Chime or Netspend card but who doesn’t accept not even MasterCard???? You get a two start review for simple app navigation.

by Inja1148

It’s great to be able to loan money to people who need it. However, there are a couple of things you need to consider before deciding to be generous like I was. First, you may not get your money back. I gave out five different loans and two of them didn’t pay me back. It’s frustrating thinking that I’m trying to do someone a favor and it’s not like you make a whole lot of money as a “tip” to lend it either. There are a few borrowers who want to make sure the lender gets a monetary “thank you” but there are many, who, when requesting the loan, sound like they are indignant that they would be expected to pay anything snd even say so. This is how the world works when you borrow money, you pay interest, even on Solo. But you don’t have to deal with someone embarrassing you and saying you aren’t a good risk.
So while I would have enjoyed lending more money to people who really needed it, I cannot afford to lose money to people who apparently think that lenders are just giving it away. I work hard for my money and wanted to help. I do hope Solo can recover my money but I still won’t get it all back if they do.
It’s people like the two who still owe me money that are ruining it for the rest of you.

by Laorgill

I love the idea behind SoLoFunds however with many apps, comes some quirks and you can call or chat w/someone (perhaps not many apps but I think the ones dealing with my bank account info and access to debiting and crediting my account, I should be able to speak to someone). Last week I had to update my debit card after a loan had been funded and it wouldn’t allow it so I had to email someone. 24 hours later I get a response that didn’t really have anything to do with what I had asked or needed. It ended up with me canceling the loan (via ridiculous emailing again) after 4 different times I sent out tickets and responded to their messages. Not once did I get a response that came close to fixing the issue I feverishly tried explaining 5 separate times. It’s easy to use and understand and there are many people borrowing as well as willing to lend. I just cannot excuse their lack of understanding and the ridiculous means of communication one has to go through to speak to someone human... who still can’t help more times than not.I love the iPhone

by Mohaveeeeeee

I really like the changes to the solo funds app. I have been funding loans for a while now and I definitely have a bit in deferment but the average returns are great. The GUI is nice, I love the lending tracker, overall really nice to use. One change I hope they revert is the email you get upon a paid back loan. Previously they showed how much you funded broken down into initial amount, plus solo donation, and then the tip amount. They still have a thorough breakdown of each component when funding but upon repayment they removed it. This is making it slightly more difficult to know the returns unless you refer back to the original email or go into history. Please revert that feature, it worked perfectly. Lastly, I opened a ticket because I was supposed to get paid back a certain amount, however even though the loan was not late and it was the only loan due that day, I showed all evidence and still haven’t gotten my money back. It’s not a lot but literally is the amount of return I got on that investment. Errors can happen, but when dealing with peoples money that is an extreme red flag. Still really like SoLoFunds overall

by Javierb13

Once you get pass the headache of signing up everything else works pretty good. These opinions are coming from the view of someone who only invests money and not take loans.

The good: I have funded about $1100 since October 1st and have already earned money back. SoLoFunds has never crashed on me and it is simple to use. Loans can be very short (max 30 days) so you can get your money back + tips fast! Possibility to earn 10% on every loan. When you get paid back, it is deposited to your bank account asap. Loans amounts aren't large

The bad: I had headaches trying to get my SSN input to work. It continuously told me it was not accepted. I emailed them for help because i exceeded my ssn submitting attempts. They weren't much help. 2 days of trying and it worked magically. Their help team isnt very good either. To start, they reply to your question from an email that you can not reply to. So if you have a follow up question, you have to start an entirely new email. I seem to have email them too many times because they have completely stopped responding to any emails i have sent.

Suggestions: being able to sort by # of previous transactions. Using an email that users can respond to for follow up questions.

The good outweigh the bad in my opinion. Just have to get through the headaches first. Then its all sunshine and rainbows. These opinions are just from my experience. Not everyone will have the same problems i have had.

by Moms-Leave It

I have downloaded and checked out a number of lending apps online and in SoLoFunds store and I will say thay Solo is HANDS DOWN the best and easiest way I have ever recieved funding! The tips and fees are realistic and dont make borrowing hurt your financial situation costing more then you can afford.

Don’t be discouraged if your first, second, third or maybe even fourth request for a loan are not funded in the 3 days they stay on the marketplace, someone will come thru for you and the request process literally takes all of 3 minutes. Once my loan was funded and I accepted the terms the money was in my bank account and available to me in seconds!!

I highly recommend SoLoFunds for temporary financial relief as long as you are true to your promise to pay back in the allotted time frame as these lenders are people just like the borrowers paying out of their personal pocket to help those in need and should be appreciated for their kindness and caring to help others. I am excited to watch my credit build with Solo and can’t wait to be in a position to help others the way my lender helped me!! Thanks a million to Jake for lending me the funds I requested and the team at Solo that put out one of the best lending apps I have found!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ♥️

by Sweetheartjayxo

So far I’ve had great success with this Solo App My first loan took a few days to get funded I assume since I didn’t have a report yet. But as long as your honest and actually pay your loan back early or on time you will get funded almost immediately after requesting a loan. Also each loan you pay back on time the limit you can borrow also increases. I’ve never had an issue with funding or debited payments. Yes I’m sure there are people with no intentions of paying back but this is the risk you take going in to SoLoFunds you really can’t blame solo for that unless you fund a loan and pay for protection that solo will pay you if the borrower doesn’t then hey you knew that going in. I don’t understand all the upset over this when it’s your job to read and understand how it works beforehand. If you want to take less of a risk then only lend to people who have paid back a few loans and show integrity don’t fund 1st time borrowers. I’ve borrowed 8 times now I will update this review after my 20th time for more information.

by Disneyqueen13

I am SO grateful for this program and even more grateful for the people that have funded me. You have NO idea how much it means to me to be able
to help my autistic child and also for the help it provided me when I couldn't work thru stg 3 melanoma cancer then severe case of COVID back to back! James! Alexander! I don't know your last name but YOU are me and my son's light at the end of a very dark and cold tunnel. I wish I could remember the names of everyone that has helped me and my son thru these tough times but know that we love and appreciate ALL of you and James gets a special shout out for helping us MULTIPLE times and so very very promptly!! Im an RN and have really suffered with the virus personally in a mental and physical way. I was SO SO sick and I've been SO saddened by some people's reactions to all of this. I will never forget the sound of my patients gasping for air as i held them in one arm and the tablet in the other that we used to FaceTime their families during their last moments. I wish We could give James and this app employees and creators HUGE hugs!!!! I cannot say Thank you enough. You're all in our prayers!!!!

by Rp5026

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. 👍🏼

by Clairebelee

I downloaded SoLoFunds one day when I saw someone talking about it online. There are so many apps that say loans or payday loans instantly! SoLoFunds will deliver!

I didn’t get to work due to snow, and needed groceries and diapers and requested a loan, it was funded in under thirty minutes of my request, and in my account the moment I looked. Thank you Rosemary, for your generosity! You saved us in a tight situation. When used the right way SoLoFunds can be a beautiful thing! People helping others out of the kindness or their heart, because the fees are minimal, and you won’t get rich lending small amounts, but you can be rich in the fact you saved someone from not sleeping on the streets, not having power or water, making sure their children have what they need, and being their hope when they have none!

Now it’s a great way for me to loan people when they need it. No credit checks doesn’t matter if you have none. Also, you can see peoples lending history and their repaid loans, if the tip is not sufficient, you as the loaner can request a higher tip for funding the loan, the highest is 12%, SoLoFunds is a wonderful thing! I am so great-full for the creators of SoLoFunds! Such a wonderful thing for everyday people who can’t get traditional loans!

by Jdudinkdl

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 SoLoFunds 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.

by JadaKiss08

I have been totally dissatisfied with SoLoFunds. 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 SoLoFunds 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 SoLoFunds 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 SoLoFunds 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!

by GruntP

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 SoLoFunds 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.

by Scot Montgomery

This is one app that sounds great until you actually dig in and see how it compares. It sales itself as a way to provide loans at less cost than predatory payday loans while allowing individual investors to make some money along the way. The major problem is that it accomplishes none of these goals long term. Example: most of the loans that gave a “donation” would cost as much or more than a payday loan from a company that also had a form of collateral (a signed check) they hold in hopes you will return with cash but if you don’t they check every couple of hours to see if their is funds in the account and pull it as soon as it sees an available balance to cover it. This helps the (company or investor) reduce default rates. SoLoFunds ends up causing higher default rates for investors and costs the same as a payday loan for borrowers. The only people being helped is SoLoFunds itself! I worked in the payday loan industry and saw the predatory practices they would do to make money but SoLoFunds doesn't help people. Most of the loans I saw once you include the “donation” and tip for the lender was within a couple of dollars of a payday loan (which runs $15 for every $100 borrowed.

by PoorlyInvested

When a loan goes accordingly, it’s a quick return on a small investment. I wish SoLoFunds allowed more information like how long a borrower has been on SoLoFunds and the reasons for previous loan in addition to whether they paid on time. The first few loans I funded were on time and paid I full so I got more confident in give more money. I have 2 loans yet to be paid and I’m nervous. SoLoFunds doesn’t inform you if the person chooses to rollover or if they’ve been on SoLoFunds . I’d like to be assured that something is happening so that I can be my money back. I can’t just trust that maybe after months I’ll get a small percentage of my investment back. SoLoFunds should allow atleast limited interaction so that borrowers can communicate any issues as well. Also if a borrower has yet to accept a loan, lenders should be able to cancel. That’s why it’d be helpful to see user activity on SoLoFunds so we know whether the borrower has even seen that there’s someone to fund them. I just wish lenders got some type of guarantee instead of just being left in the dark.

by Foofaloofa

Let me walk you through my experience so far with SoLoFunds. I need a small loan to help pay off a bill that was coming the day before pay day. So I used SoLoFunds. 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 SoLoFunds 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!