“I have requested a stop payment and refund from all three companies until the solar panels are working. They agreed to reimburse me. However, I have not heard from them in three months. They have, however, continued to deduct money from my bank account each month,” reads one complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from a homeowner based on the Peninsula.
In March, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued four solar lending companies, including Solar Mosaic, for allegedly misleading customers into taking out loans, hiding fees and other deceptive trade practices.
“The lenders I sued today seriously misled consumers by promising cheap credit for solar installation, only to charge huge upfront fees that consumers didn’t know about,” Ellison said in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “Let this lawsuit serve as a warning that I will not tolerate deceptive practices, particularly in an industry that is so important to our collective future.”
Maria Amaya drove from her home in Hollywood to Oakland to join Monday’s protest. She paid thousands of dollars for her loan in cash and now wonders if she’ll be able to recoup the money.
“They sent an email showing me blueprints of the plans they had finished, but when I went to the city, they had not received any plans or approved a permit or anything,” Amaya said through a Spanish translator on Monday. “That was my life savings, my retirement.”
Amaya found others were in her position after her daughter discovered a TikTok with other Solar Mosaic victims.
Members of the statewide community advocacy organization, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action, organized Monday’s protest. Members said Solar Mosaic allegedly approved loans without proper inspections and paid money to contractors but not homeowners, whose names were on the loans.
“We will continue until they cancel the loans,” Robles said. She told KQED as the protest ended, “I hope we don’t have to come back. If not, you’ll see us more.”
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