Dear Illinoisans,

I am the CEO of OppLoans. We are a homegrown employer – a Chicago-based financial technology company that provides simple credit products with compassionate 5-star customer service to credit-challenged Americans. We like deep dish, we choose either the Cubs or Sox, and we care deeply about our company, our employees and our customers.

I am passionate about the work we do serving millions of Americans, helping them build a better financial path. Many times, they are turned away from banks and near-prime lenders who have pulled back on credit, leaving so many people without fair and transparent options.

These are the primary times customers turn to us.

But this week, Illinois state lawmakers added an amendment to a recent bill (SB 1792) that would inadvertently limit credit access for many. While the intent is to improve consumer protections, this amendment would severely limit access to responsible credit for almost 3 million credit-challenged Illinoisans.

OppLoans enables safe and reliable credit access for middle-income, credit-challenged consumers. We are not a payday company. We facilitate installment loans with strong consumer protection guardrails to help borrowers build credit and graduate to a better financial path. We have served more than 70,000 customers in Illinois. We have outstanding customer reviews with more than 10,000+, 5-star reviews online and have more than 500 employees in the state.

So, I need to speak candidly about this.

This bill will have unintended consequences for consumers in Illinois. As a leader in our industry, OppLoans believes in common sense consumer guardrails that strike the appropriate balance of ensuring access to credit and strengthening consumer protections. In fact, we believe so strongly in helping our customers that we check the market for lower APR products to make sure consumers are getting the best possible product. 93 percent of the time, we are the best option for our customers.

We provide simple interest loans without any add-on fees, we report to all three credit bureaus, and every payment amortizes principal. We are actively building and expanding our products so that we can help our customers improve their credit and graduate to near prime or prime products. That is our mission.

We urge you to speak up and call on your state representative to reject SB 1792 (amendment 3) /HB 2685 (amendment 3) or sign the petition below so we can continue serving and keep good options on the table for credit-challenged Illinoisans.

Jared Kaplan
CEO, OppLoans

Petition link: https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ensure-access-to-credit-for-illinois-citizens.html