Please research before you accept a personal loan. I was offered a personal loan thru HFC, and I accepted the bait. Needless to say, if I knew then what I know now, I would never have done business with them. I hope someone reads this and decides not to do business with them. They charged me a 28.99 % APR, and let's just say, I am locked into paying $267 a month for the next 2 years. I have been paying this amount for the last 3 years. Even if you pay every month on time, you don't qualify for a rate reduction. Funny thing is my credit wasn't even bad enough for me to settle for the high interest rate. Lesson to learn...don't settle when you feel desperate because there is something always better. When I pay them off, I am done. Don't fall for the trap. It is like signing your soul to the devil with your blood. Seriously...I regret it.

This is the WORST company ever! Several years ago, I took out an $11, 000 loan with them for home improvements. When my husband lost his job nearly two years ago, I called them on that same day to make temporary arrangements for lower payments until he was working again.Their response? Sorry. This was the deal. Pay us. Now, if I have a choice of feeding my children or making a loan payment, the kids win every time. I continued this for nearly a month to no avail.
I ended up trying to put all of my credit cards and this loan into Consumer Consolidated Credit. The credit cards - done deal. The nearly $6, 000 in debt is now $800! HFC played games for four months. "We don't show that account number", "The customer name doesn't match the account" etc. All of this while on conference calls between HFC, CCC and myself. Wrong account number??!! I had been making payments to it for a year & a half!
After all this, I heard nothing for a year and a half - no matter how I tried to rectify the situation. After all, the bill IS my responsibility. In mid-January - a YEAR AND A HALF after all this nonsense "ended" I went to use my debit card for groceries and found out they had a judgment against my account. Again - no problem (other than being broke), as I owe the money, but where were they when I was trying to handle this? So I called their attorney because I WANT to pay what I owe. Their own attorney can't even get them to return a call & now my $11, 000 loan is $17, 000.

On February 22, 2008 I closed on a home equity loan from my bank of which I consolidated some bills. As soon as I received the checks I immediately went straight to HFC and gave them a check for $4, 877.30 and requested my account be closed. This was the balance due on the last statement that I had received from them in January. When I handed the receptionist the check I told her that I was paying this account in full and to close the account.

I was then informed that I owed an additional $125.46 (an additional finance charge I was told). I told her that was all the money that they were getting from me and walked out. I paid HFC the balance that was indicated on my last statement that I had received, although the payment was late because I was waiting to close on my home equity loan. This was the second $5, 000 loan I had paid off with them and early and I always made my payments on time. My other creditors that I paid off was more than happy to waive any late fee or finance charge because of the wait on the home equity loan.

I received another statement, this time another finance charge plus a late fee had been added, bringing the balance to $160.69. I called the branch where I got the loan to try and talk to someone about this. I couldn't get past the receptionist. I explained to her what had happened and she told me to call customer service. She was very hateful and rude and nasty to me. But I called customer service and again they would not help me. I again called the local branch and requested to talk to the manager, a Ryan McMichael. As typical of loan sharking companies of this nature he was of course not available.

I left a message for him to call me of which he did not. I did however receive a call from a Keith Freeman on April 4, 2008 who stated he was the Vice President (I wonder) of HFC. His number is 804-270-4867. I explained to him what had happened with the home equity loan and that I was requesting all the additional charges be waived.

As expected he was of little help and showed not sympathy. He did however indicate that he waive the additional finance and late charge and that I only had to pay $125.00 due on April 7, 2008. I dropped a check off for that amount on that day. I have now received an email notification that my account if past due and that the amount owed is the additional finance charge that Mr. Steve Freeman had just waived last week. What kind of people are they. Have they sold their soles to the devil? I have pretty good credit, not perfect but I do pay my bills.

My complaint is what is contractually right and what is morally right. These people want every dime they can get from hard working people. Well, I will live on the street before I borrow from them again. A beg of you all, don't get involved. Don't be tempted as I was twice by that easy $5, 000 check they send you. Tear it up immediately and mail it back to them. If people like us quit borrowing from people like them, they will soon be out of business. Google this place and read what they have done to others. They are morally criminal. It is my hope that I can cost them much more than that $35 they want from me.