Parafin Cash Advance is literally stealing from my bank account
I made the mistake of getting a small advance from Parafin in mid-September and chose the 9 month repayment plan at 6%, and it was paid off in 2.5 months. Parafin sent me an email on Jan 8th saying my advance was paid off, and they are still trying to deduct 2% of my sales from my bank account even though they told me my payments were finished. Every time I call it sends me to voicemail and nobody ever calls back. How is Amazon letting a company as shady and as predatory as this take advantage of Sellers?
14 replies
Seller_LyYw7fQRKc5G7
Did you read your terms of service with them? I suspect that they are doing exactly what you agreed to let them do.
I would search the forums for other sellers who have dealt with Parafin and see how they managed to take care of this.
Seller_HKSMFYZ6DSaUe
Parafin is terrible. Did the same thing to me. The terms they advertise are not the terms you receive. Someone should sue them from false advertising. But you can call them and say you can't make the payments anymore and to put you on hardship. They will reduce your payments in half. Only way I was able to beat their BS fine print.
Seller_bQBd2zL1tMiHF
They are a match made in heaven with Amazon. Both predatory companies that prey on small businesses. Call your bank and do a stop payment asap.
Seller_ZWJu6SC7QqWWD
could it be that they are still deducting the one time capital fee after we pay back the cash advance amount? I too made the poor error of taking a small advance from them. I only owe another 314.00 , can't wait to get my pay off message and then they still try and take from me too. I'm sure that will happen. What a bunch of BS. Most companies these days are nothing but bogus prey on the customer establishments. Sad times.
Seller_CMrsQWxLwkUAn
Merchant Cash Advance is like a payday loan for business owners. Its not like they trick you. Its just a last resort funding for the truly desperate. If you're not 100% desperate stay clear.
Seller_oDXVaydIpi3Hi
They are predatory and inept. We opened cases regarding out loan with them months ago and can't even get Amazon to respond let alone them
SEAmod
Hello @Seller_Etedb4FUvUJhq
Is it possible that this is a prepayment penalty? I haven't encountered a loan with a prepayment penalty in years. But, I am familiar with them. I will reach out to the lending team to see if I can get any additional information. I cannot guarantee that I will.
Susan
SEAmod
Hello @Seller_Etedb4FUvUJhq
Hi all, on behalf of the Amazon Lending team, please see below.
Thank you for sharing feedback about your experience with Parafin. We’ve worked with Parafin to help clarify some important information with respect to payments:
- The email notifying sellers that they'd paid off their MCA is triggered by their final payment being scheduled. In rare cases, the final payment could fail, which would result in debit retries even after the seller was notified that they had paid off their MCA.
- Parafin has corrected this as of June 21, 2024 so that the email only sends after the final payment clears. We apologize to the seller for any confusion this may have caused.
- If Parafin receives an ACH return code on any attempted debit, Parafin will retry the debit up to three times. They will wait to see if the retried payment clears before attempting another debit retry. Parafin sends an email to sellers detailing the ACH return code and how to fix the problem. Before any debit, Parafin alerts the seller via email. All notifications are sent to the email address used in the cash advance application.
- Parafin responds to sellers via the email address the seller used to fill out their MCA application. Sellers should use an email address they regularly check on the application. It may also be helpful to add help@parafin.com to your contact list to avoid having support messages get caught in a spam filter.
Getting Support: Parafin actively reviews cases and will follow up directly with sellers at the email or phone number they used to fill out their MCA application to ensure resolution. For further questions related to Parafin, call (855) 558-5005 or email help@parafin.com. They are available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PT).
We hope this information helps. We understand the importance of precision and reliability when it comes to the handling of your business’s finances. Please let us know at amazon-lending@amazon.com if you have any additional questions.
Susan
