Reply from Coast FundingMay 2, 2025
First and foremost, we are sorry you feel this way and that your transaction escalated to this point. After over three years without a blemish or negative review, what you articulate is certainly not how Coast does business and does not reflect our core values. Following the receipt of your review, we conducted a thorough investigation of all communication related to your transaction to see where things went wrong.
To begin, at no point in your transaction did we communicate that your approval was calculated as a 4% APR. In fact, we made sure to communicate not only the monthly rate, but the total cost associated with the program. Secondly, you were presented with other options that had lower costs and fees associated, however you gravitated to the line of credit program as the best solution for your business. As we reviewed the conversations, it seemed as if you heard what you wanted to hear vs. what reality was given your extensive experience as an underwriter for a bank historically, which you pointed out multiple times throughout the process. Due to your experience, knowledge of the financial markets, and the fact that you worked with another “loan officer” shortly before working with our company, who you disparaged as well, our representative inaccurately assumed that you clearly understood the program. Of course, we could have been more thorough in our process, but the fact that most calls began with “you have 6 minutes” or similar, we wanted to be respectful of your time. We understand that entrepreneurs are busy, thus speed and ease of process are generally features our clients appreciate.
California and many other states require funding companies such as Coast to provide APR and total cost disclosures to clients. Very similar to the Truth In Lending disclosures for consumer credit, Coast Funding provides clear disclosure of APR and/or total cost for all programs it offers. We value transparency and want all clients to fully understand the terms prior to funding their transaction. We also have this procedure in place to safeguard clients in the event they miss something in the presentation of terms initially. In your case, admittedly, you didn’t read this disclosure because you “signed on the side of the road.” It was not until after signing, and your transaction being funded, did you take issue with the terms of the transaction.
To be clear, the total cost of your transaction was not 52% as you outline. The benefit of the line of credit program is the client is in control of cost and the sooner the client pays back, the less cost they incur. While the annualized rate may have been perceived as “higher” on your specific transaction, we tried to educate you on how to use the line responsibly to minimize your cost and have a resource you could leverage in the future.
It should also be noted that the cost of capital and terms associated with each transaction vary dramatically depending on the qualifications of both business and applicant. The line of credit program in particular is more focused on credit than some of the other programs you were offered. Both credit and cash flow were a challenge and thus risk profile associated increased, as did the cost of the program.
In summary, we apologize that you didn’t see value in the programs that we offered. As you continue your search for financing, perhaps you will begin to realize that we weren’t bad people, we aren’t some pushy broker, and we probably would have been the best solution and partner long term, because we actually care and wanted to help.
For any prospective client reading this response, we hope that you can feel the sincerity of our company and see that we were just trying to help. Reputation is everything to us and we hope that you will gravitate to the hundreds of other reviews from clients that see value in our programs and appreciate the Coast relationship.
