Flight Training Finance, LLC - Bannockburn, Illinois

James P.

Great communication and transparency during the application and approval process. After that, the communication was virtually non-existent. There's no way to check the balance of your account without calling and asking. Even then you're lucky to get a return call. I called numerous times over the course of several weeks and kept being promised a return call and never received a call from anyone. It took 3 weeks for them to get a payoff balance in order to pay the loan early and another week for me to actually talk to someone who could answer my questions regarding early payoff. They also don't report to the credit bureaus.

Edilson G.

Would not recommend to anyone. I applied for a $4000 loan to help me finish my PPL and since I was still in high school I had no credit history. I was able to get a 19% interest rate (boy what was I thinking...) with a co-signer. I was hoping this would count towards my credit history but later found out that they do not report to the credit bureau, unless its negative (if you miss your payment date). Additionally, there is a payment fee unless you mail a paper check in advance. Simply put, look somewhere else.

Matthew M.

I do not recommend this company to anyone! They say they want to approve everyone but no! All they do is hurt your credit report by placing inquiries on it. You call and talk to them they say with a cosigner you might be able to be approved. Had a cosigner and it was still denied they tell me unknown reasons. Have great credit and they still will not approve you all they do is run your credit multiple times and nothing to show from it do not go through this company!!!

Daniel A.

Called in because I’m supposed to receive an interest refund check at the end of my loan. Spoke to Sandy who has no sense of basic customer service, and she stated that I will not be receiving a check after making all my payment on time via automatic payment. Their employees don’t have a clue what they are doing. If my issue doesn’t get resolved I’ll be reporting the company to the Better Business Bureau or hire a lawyer to resolve this matter.

Mark P.

There's a reason a lot of schools are no longer supporting Pilot Finance. It's bad for the FBO and it's bad for the student.

No transparency on payments, amount owed, etc.
They also immediately charge you interest on the full amount of the loan despite the fact that they control the training funds (The money has not actually been loaned yet). The school does not have the funds (And cannot give any prepayment/bulk discounts) and you cannot access the funds.
The whole arrangement is so sketchy I have contacted the attorney general's office, and they agree that the company may not be acting in compliance with the law.

Will J.

GO TO A CREDIT UNION. THIS PLACE WILL ASK FOR A CO SIGNER WITH. A 738 CREDIT SCORE. ON TOP OF THAT, THE INTEREST RATE IS 20-30%, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND GO TO YOUR LOCAL BANK OR CREDIT UNION. I WAS APPROVED FOR UP TO $25,000 UNSECURED THROUGH UPGRADE, AND TH INTEREST RATE IS ONLY 8% COMPARED TO THIS RIPOFF COMPANY.

ALSO, UPGRADE WILL ALLOW YOU TO SAVE EVEN MORE % ON THE INTEREST BY ALLOWING YOU TO OPEN A BANKING ACCOUNT WITH THEM.

ANOTHER THING, THIS COMPANY DOES NOT LOAN ALL OF THE MONEY UP FRONT. THEY WILL ONLY PAY OUT PICKET CHANGE AFTER EACH CLASS. AND YOU FLIGHT SCHOOL WILL HATE YOU SINCE THEY REQUIRE THEN TO SUBMIT BILLING FOR EACH AND EVER CLASS.

Rob G.

They don't finance training except through flight schools that do NOT do accelerated training. The response I got in email was condescending to say the least.

Brianna W.

They never answer the phone, they are awful at communicating with the flight school and they are completely unhelpful with every process of this loan. I should have gone another route.