For now, Wunderlich is still focused on launching new credit products. He recently finalized a deal with a Utah-based bank that helps online lenders use the state's lender-friendly laws to make loans elsewhere. That will let Bristlecone expand its product offerings to include term loans, allowing it to extend more enticing rates to borrowers with better credit profiles and to finance services like veterinary care, elective surgery, even funerals—not just tangible assets like dairy cows and Labradoodles.
“We’ve gone a long way to making sure that what we’re doing is within the confines of the law,” he said. “Is there a regulator one day that’s going to just absolutely not like what we do and pick a fight with us? Probably. And we’ll have to hash it out.”
For Sabins, getting out of her lease contract turned into a lengthy ordeal.
When she first figured out that she was leasing Tucker, she complained to both Monterey Financial and Bristlecone. She stopped making payments and stopped worrying about the charge, until she and her husband looked into refinancing their home and realized the unresolved lease was marring their credit report. By then, she’d already sold the dog.
This past June, she reached out to Wags again. In July, Wags promised to clear up her credit report. In October, it refunded her the lease payments she made.
She still worries the transaction will come back to haunt her. Before she took Tucker home back in early 2015, the dog had a microchip implanted under his skin to register him with the American Kennel Club. When she sold him, she forgot to ask the buyer to update the registration.
Every now and then, unease gnaws at her. She worries the dog will bite someone and authorities will track it back to her. “I think, ‘They’re going to blame it on me!’”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.