Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  01/29/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I would like my credit file to be updated.

  Business response

  01/29/2025

  Hi Johneisha,
  
  Our records indicate the account was brought current on 1/21//2025. Our reporting occurs on the 1st business day of every month, and it may take the bureaus 7-10 days to accept and upload the information to your credit reports.
  
  If more than 45 days have passed, and you haven't observed the expected changes on your credit report, we are here to assist. We understand the importance of accurate and timely reporting, and we will gladly investigate the matter for you!

  Customer response

  01/29/2025

  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.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ********* *****

• Initial Complaint

  01/27/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I opened an account with *******. They open a fictional line of credit for 2500. They create a " Charge off" off 200 dollars that you pay them at 10 dollars a month, including fees. ******* then reports to the 3 credit score company you have made on time payments on a debt. When in reality it is all a Fraud. I never received a credit card or access to an actual line of credit account. And upon completion of the $200 "Charge Off" of money I never borrowed or Credit that I used i would get the $200 dollars back at the end of ******************************************************************************* return kickoff gave me a derogatory credit statement that continues to hurt me to this day. ******* received $80 dollars from me, which bought me a derogatory credit rating. I never received money from Kickoff, a credit card or a line of credit account. ****** the only financial exchange was I gave Kickoff $80 dollars and got myself out of their money fraud with our financial system

  Business response

  01/29/2025

  Hi ******,
  
  Thank you for reaching out. Id like to provide clarification regarding your Kikoff Credit Account and the Credit Builder Loan, as well as address your concerns.
  
  When you sign up for Kikoff, you receive a credit line that is reported to the three major credit bureaus. This serves as the credit account. Depending on the plan you choose, a balance is charged to the credit line, creating payments over a 12-month period. Your payments are reported monthly to the credit bureaus, contributing positively to your credit history. Having a credit line in your profile can also help reduce overall utilization, diversify your credit mix, and build payment history, which are significant factors in your credit score. Its important to note that Kikoffs credit account does not come with a physical or virtual card.
  
  The Kikoff Credit Account you opened on 09/27/2023 had a line of credit for $2,500 with monthly payments of $20 over a 12-month term. Unfortunately, this loan was closed due to non-payment on 06/22/2024 with only two payments made, and charged off for $200.
  
  As part of our compliance with strict lending rules and regulations, we are required to report accurate payment activity to the credit bureaus. For this reason, the payments in question cannot be refunded. We understand this may not be the outcome you were hoping for, and we appreciate your understanding of our commitment to compliance.
  
  The Credit Builder Loan you opened on 09/27/2023 had a loan amount of $120, with monthly payments of $10 over a 12-month term. This serves as the ""savings account."" Upon successful completion of the Credit Builder Loan, all funds paid into the account are returned back to the member, ensuring that your commitment to credit-building also includes financial rewards. Unfortunately, this loan was closed due to non-payment on 02/26/2024 with only one payment made, which was withdrawn on 05/11/2024.
  
  If you have further questions or need additional clarification, please dont hesitate to reach out at *********************************

• Initial Complaint

  01/27/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  October 2023 I paid 50 dollars into a kikoff secure lone of credit. This was supposed to serve as a way to build credit using my own money. Instead a premium credit line worth 2500 was opened and used to make four payments with that credit line without my authorization. I did sign up for a secure line of credit but this was not the product I was authorizing. Since I did place the application kikoff refuses to acknowledge that false pretenses were used to collect my information for account set up. Also the 50 dollars I paid was not applied to the account per *** verbal statement on 1/26/2025 and they claim to have no record of my phone calls w the *** stating that custiner service did not exist at the time I made the application yet I was clearly in contact with kikoff. I was refered to kikoff by a friend who uses this service and used their sign up link to initiate the application.

  Business response

  01/29/2025

  Hi *****,

  
  We have an open ticket awaiting your response with the requested information needed to proceed with our investigation. Please reply to that email at your earliest convenience.

• Initial Complaint

  01/27/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This account does not belong to me. I am not sure why exactly that it is reporting on my credit report. I've sent several letters to the address listed with this account reporting on my report to clarify this but I have not heard back. I am filing this complaint through BBB with the hopes that my complaint will be taken seriously and these accounts will be removed off my credit report. I will also be filing a complaint with the **** as well. If I do not hear back I will file an *** complaint. I have attached my ID and SSN card to verify my identity. Once more I do not have any agreements with you guys nor did I sign any contracts bearing my wet signature, I would appreciate that this account be removed. Thank You in advance.

  Business response

  01/29/2025

  Hi *********,

  Thank you for your note. At Kikoff, we are required to report accurate information to the bureaus. If you believe any of the information we reported is inaccurate, we are happy to review the reporting.  We have also sent you an email internally through the contact in this complaint that goes into greater detail in regards to your concern. If you have any further questions, please contact us via email at ******************************************************** and we would be happy to assist you with any account-specific questions regarding its status or any amounts with respect to  your privacy in doing so. We hope this information is helpful and we wish you well in your journeys.
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/26/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This complaint concerns multiple Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) violations, Metro 2 compliance failures, and inaccurate credit reporting by Kikoff Lending, LLC. Due to character limits, the full details, supporting evidence, and requested resolutions are included in the uploaded documents. Please review all attached files for a complete summary of the complaint and the necessary corrective actions.

  Business response

  01/29/2025

  Thank you for reaching out to share your concerns. I understand how important accurate credit reporting is, and I want to assure you that we take these matters seriously.
  
  Thank you for sharing the information regarding the discrepancies. We noticed that the screenshot provided appears to be from a third-party service. While such services can be helpful, their data may not always fully align with official credit bureau reports. To ensure a more accurate and thorough review, we kindly request a copy of your official credit report from all the agencies. This will help us validate the information and address your concerns more effectively.
  
  We want to clarify that we report the same account information to all three credit bureaus. If any further discrepancies remain after reviewing the attached payment records and your official credit report, we remain committed to addressing and resolving them in compliance with Section 611 of the FCRA.
  
  We hope this explanation provides clarity. If you need any further assistance, please feel free to reach out at *********************************

  Customer response

  01/29/2025

   
  Complaint: 22860830
  
  Dear BBB and Kikoff,

  I appreciate Kikoffs response, but their request for my personal credit reports is unnecessary and a clear attempt to delay the resolution of this dispute.
  
  As a data furnisher, Kikoff already has direct access to the information they report to the credit bureaus. They receive regular reporting feedback and Automated Credit Dispute Verification (ACDV) responses when a dispute is filed.
  
  If Kikoff is unaware of what is being reported to the credit bureaus under their own name, this would constitute a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) 623(a)(1) for failing to maintain and verify accurate records. The burden is not on me to provide reports that Kikoff already has access to.
  
  I am formally requesting that Kikoff:

  1.Verify and ensure 100% accuracy across all three credit bureaus.
  2.If any discrepancies exist, delete the tradeline immediately under FCRA 611.
  
  Failure to comply will result in a formal complaint with the ************************************ (****) and the ************************ (***) for failure to ensure accurate reporting.
  
  Please resolve this issue promptly.
  
  Sincerely,
  ****** *******

  Business response

  02/04/2025

  Hello ******,

  We acknowledge your concerns regarding the accuracy of the information reported to the credit bureaus. We have received and investigated 13 separate disputes related to your accounts and have consistently found that the reported information accurately reflects your account activity. The disputes we have received have varied in nature, ranging from claims of lack of ownership to non-specific disputes, requiring us to conduct a thorough review of all relevant account details, including personal identifying information. Each dispute has been carefully examined, and we have responded accordingly based on our findings.
  
  Regarding your Credit Builder Loan, the account required a $10 monthly payment due on the 19th of each month for a 12-month term. Our records indicate that only one payment was received, and the account was ultimately closed due to prolonged non-payment. For your Credit Account, which reported a $2,500 revolving line of credit, the required monthly payment was $20, due on the 7th of each month. The last payment received was on November 17, 2023, and due to continued non-payment, the account was charged off on July 5, 2024.
  
  Kikoff submits data consistently across all applicable bureaus and ensures compliance checks are conducted before furnishing information each month. We unfortunately cannot control how each bureau displays or processes reported information which is why we request a recent copy of your credit report to verify that the data aligns with our records. This helps us ensure that no discrepancies have occurred outside of our reporting.
  
  We take our responsibilities as a data furnisher seriously and remain committed to accurate reporting. If you believe there are discrepancies, we encourage you to provide details so that we can investigate further. However, based on our review, the information furnished to the bureaus remains correct and if you continue to see discrepancies across your reports, we would encourage you to file a dispute with the applicable bureau. 
  
  Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

  Customer response

  02/04/2025

   
  Complaint: 22860830
  
  Dear BBB,
  
  I reject Kikoffs response as it fails to meet legal obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Kikoff continues to rely on vague statements without providing any evidence of the investigations they claim to have conducted, violating FCRA 611(a)(6)(B)(iii), which requires data furnishers to provide proof of their investigation.
  
  Additionally, Kikoffs acknowledgment of receiving ******************************************************************************* violation of FCRA 623(a)(1)(A). If Kikoffs reporting were accurate, I wouldnt have to submit multiple disputes.
  
  Since Kikoff refuses to provide proper documentation or correct the inaccurate reporting, I am escalating this matter to the ************************************ (****) and the ************************ (***) for further investigation.
  
  Sincerely,
  ****** *******
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/24/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a former customer of ******************, having had their Credit Builder and Loan accounts. For the past several months, I've been trying to re-activate these accounts but I continue to receive an error message within the Kikoff app that suggests that they cannot verify my identity. I am the exact same person that they'd previously done business with, yet they're refusing to budge or to provide any kind of recourse in helping me re-establish my account. I've lifted all credit freezes and have reached out to their Customer Support via chat to no avail as they are very unhelpful and have no solutions for this very basic problem. Not one Support agent has even asked me to provide documentation to verify my identity, which I find outrageous, unprofessional, and unconscionable. It makes zero sense that Kikoff is turning away my business when they're in businesss to acquire new customers, and, particularly because I am a former client of theirs.

  Business response

  01/29/2025

  Hi ****,
  
  Thank you for your patience while my team further reviewed your particular scenario of struggling to reopen an account as desired.
  
  It looks like our system was unable to establish the provided information as intended for successfully reopening an account. This can happen for a number of reasons including information discrepancies, alerts present on credit profiles, not being able to match the provided information against our data sources/bureau information, or other edge-case scenarios we could not self-resolve. This also may happen as our fraud prevention and data engines are ever-evolving, and may perform a bit differently than they did at the time of your initial account opening.
  
  Regardless, we are unable to manually influence this stage of the process for identity and regulatory purposes, so we will not be able to assist with you reopening an account with you at this time. For your side, I would also recommend reaching out to the credit bureaus to ensure all information they have is accurate so this doesn't happen in the future if anything is off elsewhere!
  
  I'm sorry we couldn't get this going for you at this time, but I hope the additional information helps you from here.

  Customer response

  01/29/2025

   
  Complaint: 22854423
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Are you serious? What kind of service is this? This is a lazy, excuse-prone, and apathetic handling of a very simple problem to resolve. If you're suggesting that this is the result of some internal processing failure on your end, then why haven't you already sent this system error to your technical support team for resolution because if it's affecting me it is also affecting others? I already told you that I lifted my security freezes and that my current address & contact info is consistent across all bureaus. What more could you possibly need to reactivate my account? Why aren't you offering to have one of your **** contact me over the phone so that I can lift all freezes and reapply while your agent monitors? Horrible service!
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ****

  Business response

  01/31/2025

  We understand your concern regarding your inability to reactivate your accounts, especially in light of the efforts you have made to create a more seamless process to that end.  Please know that we respect your diligence to your credit journey but are unable to reactivate your accounts at this time.  In our previous response we recommended contact with the bureaus which we have provided the contact information below.  

  
  ***************************
  ************************
  *************************
  
  It may be a good thing to start there and inquire on any statuses, permanent or temporary, or information that may impede your request. There with your inquiries to them,  you should find if there are any issues that are causing this.  If you have any further questions regarding this information or need any clarification on any of the information you discover, please contact us at ******************************** and we can assist you.  We hope this information is helpful to you and we wish you well in all of your journeys. 
  
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/23/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Kikoff is a platform for building credit. They have plans from $5-$35 per month. I started on the $5/ mo plan which saves your money for you each month you deposit it, and then returns it to you in full once the plan is complete. I upgraded to the $35/ mo plan thinking I was saving more monthly. I became unemployed and wanted to close my account and retrieve the deposited funds, only to be told that I was actually paying for a subscription at the $35 rate and it wasnt being saved for me like the $5 plan did. What a racket!

  Business response

  01/24/2025

  Hi *******,
  
  Thank you for reaching out. Id like to provide clarification regarding your Kikoff Credit Account and the Credit Builder Loan, as well as address your concerns.
  
  When you sign up for Kikoff, you receive a credit line that is reported to the three major credit bureaus. This serves as the credit account. Depending on the plan you choose, a balance is charged to the credit line, creating payments over a 12-month period. Your payments are reported monthly to the credit bureaus, contributing positively to your credit history. Having a credit line in your profile can also help reduce overall utilization, diversify your credit mix, and build payment history, which are significant factors in your credit score. Its important to note that Kikoffs credit account does not come with a physical or virtual card.
  
  As part of our compliance with strict lending rules and regulations, we are required to report accurate payment activity to the credit bureaus. For this reason, the payments in question cannot be refunded. We understand this may not be the outcome you were hoping for, and we appreciate your understanding of our commitment to compliance.
  
  The Credit Builder Loan you opened on 05/11/2024 had a loan amount of $120, with monthly payments of $10 over a 12-month term. This serves as the ""savings account."" Upon successful completion of the Credit Builder Loan, all funds paid into the account are returned back to the member, ensuring that your commitment to credit-building also includes financial rewards. Unfortunately, this loan was self-closed on 05/30/2024 with only one payment made, which was withdrawn on 06/04/2024.
  
  If you have further questions or need additional clarification, please dont hesitate to reach out at *********************************

• Initial Complaint

  01/22/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am submitting this complaint to dispute the entry for KIKOFF LENDING LLC - CLYHN5** - $20** on my credit report. Upon review, I noticed this unverified charge, which has negatively impacted my credit profile. Despite my efforts to dispute the information, no action has been taken to correct it, and it remains unresolved.According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (****), I have the right to dispute any inaccuracies in my credit report. I am requesting a thorough investigation of this entry and its prompt removal from my credit history.This inaccurate entry is impacting my ability to apply for new credit, which is preventing me from moving forward financially. For instance, I was recently denied approval for a small loan that I needed to cover essential household repairs. The emotional toll of these setbacks is significant, as I am unable to improve my financial situation or make necessary purchases because of this unresolved issue.

  Business response

  01/24/2025

  Thank you for your note.  In response to this complaint, we have provided you with additional internal correspondence regarding your reporting as well as verification of your account. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/20/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I Have Tried to dispute this multiple times from all credit bureaus but have not had any success. I never opened this account and now there is an address I never had on my reports and Im being charged for an account I never knew off. My identity was stolen and I filed a *** report but nothing has happened

  Business response

  01/24/2025

  Hi Alexandria
  
  This email is in response to a complaint we received on your behalf from the BBB.  We have reviewed the application process, and also considered any new information provided in your recent dispute. Unfortunately based on this latest internal investigation of the account verification and approval process, there is insufficient evidence to support removal of this tradeline.
  
  In your complaint you advise that you did not open or authorize the account. To be approved for a Kikoff loan/credit account, an applicants identity/personal information must be verified, including name, DOB, address, and SSN. In the case of this account, we have reviewed and reconfirmed the verification process of the information provided during account signup back on 05/25/2023, all of which matched. 
  
  Additionally, during the application process you acknowledge our terms electronically. This too  is a requirement in order to proceed with the account. We do sympathize with your situation, and would take action if the evidence indicated a different result, but we are also responsible to report accurate information - which in this case does appear to be accurate.
  
  Thank you, and we wish you all the best.

• Initial Complaint

  01/19/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This complaint is against ******** for failing to properly investigate inaccuracies in my credit report and for not providing the required description of their investigation procedures, as mandated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act 15 USC168i(6)(B)iii (****). Details: Failure to Investigate Disputes: On [4/16/2024], I submitted a formal dispute to Experian regarding inaccuracies in my credit report. Despite providing all necessary documentation, ******** failed to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation of the disputed information, as required by 15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(1)(A). Lack of Procedure Description: Following the inadequate investigation, I requested a description of the procedures used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the disputed information, as stipulated in 15 U.S.C. 1681(6)(B)iii.Experian did not provide this description within the 15-day timeframe mandated by the ****. The lack of compliance has caused significant distress and potential financial harm. I urge the **** to investigate Experian's practices and enforce adherence to federal regulations to protect consumers like myself.

  Business response

  01/24/2025

  Hello *******,

  We understand the importance of investigating any and all disputes received from the bureaus. After a thorough review of your account, we see that we have received *************************** which each one was investigated thoroughly. These disputes came from both Experian and Equifax and ranged from claiming the account wasn't yours to invalid/inaccurate account information. We also understand the impact late payments or errors in reporting can have on a credit report which is why Kikoff takes these claims seriously. 

  According to our records, terms and conditions were accepted on March 23, 2022 at time of account opening, which outlines the responsibilities of the loan and the monthly payment reporting to the bureaus. In review of your account, there was a lapse in payments received which is why you are seeing the late remarks on your credit file. The last payment we received was in March of 2024 and the account is currently closed due to non payment for an extended period of time. We do send notifications to all customers regarding account status but it seems those were overlooked in your email. As a lender we have a responsibility to report consumer information and payment information truthfully and accurately - regardless of the status of the account. With this in-mind, we cannot remove genuine late or missed payments. Please note that part of building credit is showcasing a person's payment history and these transactions are eligible for reporting and are in line with our agreements. 

  We also acknowledge that we have corresponded with you on prior occasions regarding an identity theft claim. At this time we have insufficient evidence to deem the account as fraudulent. If you have additional supporting documentation that hasn't already been reviewed, we would be happy to open another case and review it. 

  If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to us at ********************************************************
  

  
  

*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. ↩