Aqua Finance review: Pool loan originally applied through lyon financial 1

AQUA FINANCE RESPONSE

Aqua Finance, Inc. (“AFI”) appreciates the concerns that Ms. Cutino has brought to our attention and the opportunity to address them. Upon receipt of Ms. Cutino’s complaint, AFI contacted Lyon Financial, the forwarder/intermediary that worked with Sandcastle Pools and AFI to manage the financing and completion of Ms. Cutino’s inground pool, decking, and fence (the “Project”). Lyon Financial provided AFI with emails that were sent to and received from Ms. Cutino from January 31, 2022, through April 5, 2022. The emails that Lyon Financial sent Ms. Cutino requested a response acknowledging that all information was correct before Lyon Financial could proceed with ordering loan documents. Our review of the emails confirms that Ms. Cutino replied to each email and confirmed acceptance of the terms therein, including the 13.99% Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”) and the change in the financing term from 240 months to 180 months. On March 11, 2022, Ms. Cutino signed and entered into a Retail Installment Contract & Security Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Sandcastle Pools for the purchase and financing of the Project. The Agreement that Ms. Cutino signed included a Truth-in-Lending disclosure. The Truth-in-Lending disclosure provided that Ms. Cutino financed $54,750.00, with a 13.99% APR, with 180 monthly payments of $728.94. Sandcastle Pools assigned the Agreement and associated rights to AFI. Ms. Cutino alleges that her credit score was sufficient to obtain the lowest APR available at the time she applied for financing. There are over 50 different versions of FICO scores and the scores that are available to consumers are not the scores that financing companies use to make offers of credit. The offer made to Ms. Cutino was the lowest she was eligible for at the time she applied. AFI pulled Ms. Cutino’s credit report once in January 2022, not twice as Ms. Cutino indicated. Based on Ms. Cutino’s FICO score at that time, 13.99% was the lowest available APR for Ms. Cutino. Our records further confirm that the lowest available APR for any customer at that time was 6.9%, not 4.9% as Ms. Cutino claims. We have spoken to Ms. Cutino several times since account origination and Ms. Cutino did not raise concerns with the terms of the Agreement until the filing of this complaint, more than two years after agreeing to the terms and signing the Agreement. Because Ms. Cutino agreed to the terms of the Agreement, and AFI accepted assignment of the Agreement based on terms acceptable to Ms. Cutino, we are unable to amend the terms of Ms. Cutino’s Agreement. Should Ms. Cutino have additional questions or concerns, we encourage her to contact us directly at [protected] extension 6091. Regards, Aqua Finance, Inc.