Solar Loan Help in Florida: Every Lender & Your Rights

How Solar Dealer Financing Really Worked

Most Florida solar deals did not start at a bank. They started at your front door. A salesperson working for the installer picked the lender, ran your credit on a tablet, and had you e-sign in minutes. This is called dealer financing. The lender paid the installer. You got the debt. When the seller controls all the paperwork, bad things can hide in it — and in thousands of Florida deals, they did.

The biggest hidden cost was the dealer fee. To offer you a low advertised interest rate, solar lenders charged the installer a fee that industry reporting has commonly placed around 10% to 30% of the project price. Installers did not absorb that fee. They built it into your contract price. So a system that cost $25,000 in cash might be financed at $32,000 or more. The dealer fee almost never appeared as a line item in your paperwork.

Next problem: completion-certificate funding. Lenders released money to the installer when someone signed a form saying the job was 'complete.' In many reported cases, that happened before the county inspected the work and before the utility issued permission to operate (PTO). Once the installer had its money, the pressure to actually finish your system often vanished.

E-sign abuse made everything worse. Complaints filed with regulators and courts describe salespeople who held the tablet, clicked through the screens themselves, used email addresses the homeowner never controlled, and left no paper copy behind. If any of that happened to you, write down what you remember today. Dates, names, promises. Those details become evidence later.

• Promised 'free solar' but ended up with a loan? →
• Was an elderly parent talked into solar? →
• Solar installed but never turned on (no PTO) →

First, Check: Is It a Solar Loan or PACE?

Before you go further, confirm what you actually signed. A solar loan sends you a monthly bill from a lender like GoodLeap, Mosaic, or Dividend. A PACE assessment — Ygrene, Renew, FPFA/HomeRun, or FRED — hides inside your property tax bill instead. Look at your TRIM notice or tax bill. The legal tools are different for each. This guide covers solar loans and leases. If your solar payment rides on your tax bill, start with our PACE guides below.

• PACE vs. solar loan: what's the difference? →
• How to get out of a Ygrene PACE loan in Florida →

We are not a law firm, and nothing in this guide is legal advice. Whether any of these tools fits your situation depends on your contract and your facts. When a case needs a lawyer, we connect homeowners with a licensed Florida consumer attorney — the referral costs you nothing.

The FTC Holder Rule: Your Strongest Federal Tool

Pull out your loan contract and look for a boxed paragraph in all capital letters. Under the FTC's Holder Rule, 16 CFR 433.2, consumer credit contracts arranged by a seller are required to include this Notice: 'ANY HOLDER OF THIS CONSUMER CREDIT CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE SELLER OF GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED PURSUANT HERETO OR WITH THE PROCEEDS HEREOF. RECOVERY HEREUNDER BY THE DEBTOR SHALL NOT EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID BY THE DEBTOR HEREUNDER.'

In plain English: whoever holds your loan steps into the installer's shoes. If the installer lied about savings, never finished the work, or did the job so badly your roof leaks, you may be able to raise those same claims and defenses against the lender — even though the lender never touched your house. That matters, because installers disappear. Lenders and the investors who buy loans usually don't.

Now read the Notice's second sentence. Recovery 'shall not exceed amounts paid.' That is the cap. If you have paid $6,000 on the loan so far, the most the Holder Rule itself lets you claw back is generally $6,000. But the cap has three important exceptions. First, it limits money coming back to you — it generally does not limit your defense. Courts have widely read the Rule to let a consumer resist paying the remaining balance when the seller's misconduct justifies it, and that unpaid balance is often far larger than anything you paid in. Second, in a 2019 rule review the FTC confirmed that the cap does not block attorney's fees and costs when a separate law — like Florida's FDUTPA — allows you to recover them. Third, the cap does not touch claims based on the lender's own conduct, such as its own disclosure failures. Those independent claims stand on their own.

So the Rule works two ways. Defensively: when the lender or a collector demands payment or sues you, you raise the installer's misconduct as the reason you do not owe. Affirmatively: you file a claim to recover what you have already paid, up to the cap. Strong solar cases usually use both — but in a very specific order.

Order of operations is everything: never just stop paying. If you quit paying before you have disputed in writing, you hand the lender a clean default. Your credit takes the hit, collection starts, and your leverage shrinks. Build the record first — written disputes, photos, complaints — and get legal advice before you withhold a single payment.

One honest limit: the Holder Rule is a weak tool for PACE. PACE deals are structured as property tax assessments, not consumer credit contracts, and the Notice usually is not in PACE paperwork. For PACE problems, Florida Statute 163.086 — which lets a court void a PACE agreement for forgery, fraud, or violations of the three-day cancellation right, and can require the contractor to restore your property — may be the stronger path, depending on your facts.

• Deep dive: the FTC Holder Rule and your solar loan →

The Tax-Credit Balloon: Why Payments Jump Around Month 18

Did your payment suddenly jump a year or so in? That was not a billing error. It was the contract working exactly as designed. Many solar loans assume you will make a large 'voluntary' extra payment — often about 30% of the loan, the same size as the federal solar tax credit — by a set deadline, commonly around month 15 to 18.

If you make that big payment by the deadline, your monthly bill stays at the number the salesperson quoted. If you don't, the lender re-amortizes the loan: the full remaining balance gets spread across the rest of the term, and your monthly payment rises — often sharply, and permanently.

Here is the trap. The federal tax credit is not a check in the mail. It only helps if you owe enough federal income tax to use it. Retirees living on Social Security, and households with modest tax bills, often could not capture the full credit — and many say no one ever explained that. If a salesperson told you the credit was guaranteed money, write down exactly what was said. Statements like that may matter under Florida's consumer protection law, depending on what you can prove.

• Why did my solar loan payment jump? →
• Promised a solar tax credit you never got? →
• Solar didn't lower my electric bill →

GoodLeap and Mosaic: The Two Biggest Names

GoodLeap, formerly known as Loanpal, grew into one of the largest solar point-of-sale lenders in the country. Its loans were sold through installer reps, often on the installer's own tablet, and many use the tax-credit paydown structure described above. GoodLeap loans are frequently bundled and sold to investors — but the Holder Rule Notice, where your contract includes it, generally travels with the contract to whoever holds it.

Solar Mosaic, another top solar lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2025. A lender's bankruptcy does not erase your loan. Someone still owns it, and someone still services it. But bankruptcy can change where your disputes must go, and court deadlines can limit claims against the company itself. If your loan traces back to Mosaic, keep every notice you receive and confirm your current servicer in writing before you send anything important.

• GoodLeap solar loan problems in Florida →
• Mosaic solar loan disputes in Florida →

Sunlight Financial: What Its Bankruptcy Means for You

Sunlight Financial was one of the 'big three' solar lenders until it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2023. It came out the other side under new ownership. What matters for you: Sunlight generally arranged loans that were funded by partner banks, and the bankruptcy did not cancel those loans. Your payment obligation, your servicer, and your Holder Rule rights all continue.

Practical step: find the exact lender named on your contract, then match it against the servicer on your current statement. They may be different companies. Written disputes should go to both. And if the installer that sold you the Sunlight loan is also out of business — a common combination — the Holder Rule is precisely the tool that was built for that situation.

• Sunlight Financial solar loans in Florida →
• What if your solar installer went bankrupt? →

Sunnova: A Lease or PPA Is Not a Loan

Sunnova mostly sold leases and power purchase agreements (PPAs), not loans. With a lease, you rent the equipment for a monthly fee. With a PPA, you buy the power the system produces, per kilowatt-hour. Either way, you do not own the panels — the company does. That changes your options completely: there is no loan to dispute, but there is a service contract that often runs 20 to 25 years, frequently with a built-in price escalator that raises your rate every year.

Sunnova filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2025. If you hold a Sunnova lease or PPA, watch your mail closely. Bankruptcy can move contracts to new companies, and claim deadlines can pass quickly. If your system sits dead and no one answers the service line, log every outage, every call, and every ignored ticket.

Getting out of a lease or PPA usually takes one of three paths: a negotiated buyout, a transfer to a home buyer, or a legal challenge based on how the deal was sold. Which path fits depends heavily on your contract's exact terms — read them before you commit to a strategy.

• How to get out of a Sunnova lease or PPA →
• Getting out of any solar lease or PPA in Florida →

Dividend, Service Finance, and Sungage

Dividend Finance is owned by Fifth Third Bank, a large regulated national bank. That can actually work in your favor. Banks answer to federal supervisors, and they tend to respond to organized written disputes — and to CFPB complaints — more predictably than a finance company you have never heard of.

Service Finance Company, a Boca Raton-based lender owned by Truist, finances home improvements — including solar — through dealer networks. The same dealer-fee economics described at the top of this guide generally apply to its loans.

Sungage Financial arranges solar loans funded largely through banks and credit unions. Smaller footprint, same playbook: identify the true lender named on your contract, find the Holder Rule Notice, and send your dispute to the current servicer in writing.

Whoever your lender is, the pattern repeats. The installer sold the deal. The lender funded it. And the Holder Rule Notice — if your contract has one — is the legal bridge between the two.

TILA: The Disclosures You Should Have Gotten

The federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) required your lender to disclose key numbers before you signed: the APR, the finance charge, the amount financed, and the payment schedule. On a solar loan, study the payment schedule. If it shows the post-deadline payment jump you are now living with, the balloon was disclosed in writing. If your payment jumped and the schedule never showed it, that gap is worth showing to an attorney.

You may have heard about TILA's 'right of rescission' — three business days to cancel, stretching up to three years if required disclosures or notices were never given. That right generally applies to loans secured by a mortgage-type lien on your home. Most solar loans are secured instead by a UCC-1 fixture filing against the equipment, so TILA rescission may not apply to yours. Whether it does is a genuine legal question. Ask a lawyer instead of guessing.

Florida adds a simpler right. For sales made in your home, Florida's home-solicitation-sale law generally allows cancellation within three days, and Florida PACE agreements carry their own three-day cancellation right. Three days pass fast — but if the seller never gave you the required cancellation notice, the clock may never have started running. That, too, depends on your paperwork.

• Can I still cancel? Florida's 3-day rule explained →

FDUTPA: Florida's Consumer Weapon — With a Sharp Edge

The Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) bans deceptive and unfair business practices. Claims that a system would 'eliminate your electric bill,' that it was a 'free government program,' or that the loan 'pays for itself' may support an FDUTPA claim, depending on what was said and what you can prove. A winning consumer can recover actual damages — the real money the deception cost you.

Now the sharp edge. FDUTPA carries two-way attorney fee shifting: the prevailing party may recover its fees from the loser. Win, and the company may have to pay your lawyer. Lose, and a court may order you to pay theirs. This is exactly why you should never file an FDUTPA claim without an attorney screening it first — and it is also why serious consumer lawyers will often take strong cases with no upfront fee.

FDUTPA fee shifting cuts both ways. A weak case can leave you owing the company's legal fees on top of your loan. Get your case screened by a Florida consumer attorney before anything gets filed.

The Arbitration Clause in Your Contract

Nearly every solar loan and lease includes an arbitration clause with a class-action waiver. Courts generally enforce them. So plan for your dispute to be decided by a private arbitrator, not a jury. Some contracts offered a 30- or 60-day opt-out window after signing; for most readers, that window closed long ago.

Arbitration is not a dead end. Under the major consumer arbitration rules, your share of the filing cost is typically capped at a few hundred dollars, and the company pays most of the arbitrator's bill. Arbitrators can apply the Holder Rule, TILA, and FDUTPA just like a judge would. Also check your clause for a small-claims carve-out — most have one. In Florida, small claims court handles disputes up to $8,000 under Rule 7.010(b), with filing fees of roughly $55 to $300, a pretrial conference typically about 50 days out, and same-day mediation in many counties. County court reaches claims up to $50,000.

The UCC-1 Filing: Why You Can't Just Sell the House

Solar lenders protect themselves by recording a UCC-1 fixture filing in your county's official records. On paper, it claims the panels, not your house. In practice, title companies flag it in every title search, and most buyers' mortgage lenders will not close until it is resolved. It behaves like a lien even when the lender insists it is not one.

So selling or refinancing usually requires a payoff, a temporary lift, or a subordination agreement from the solar lender — and those desks can be slow. If a sale is coming, start that paperwork months early. And if you ever settle a dispute with a lender, make termination of the UCC-1 a written term of the settlement. Do not rely on a verbal promise to 'take care of it.'

• Can't sell your house because of a solar lien? →
• Removing solar panels to replace your roof →
• Roof leaking around solar panels? →

How to Dispute Your Solar Loan, Step by Step

Here is the order of operations that protects you. Work the steps in order. Skipping ahead — especially straight to 'stop paying' — is how homeowners lose winnable cases.

• Step 1 — Gather everything: your contract, every text and email with the salesperson, loan statements, your county permit portal history, and FPL or Duke bills from before and after the install.
• Step 2 — Confirm what you have: loan, lease, PPA, or PACE. Check your TRIM notice or property tax bill for a PACE assessment line.
• Step 3 — Find the Holder Rule Notice in your contract, and write down the exact legal names of the lender and the current servicer.
• Step 4 — Send a written dispute to both the servicer and the lender by certified mail. State the facts, the broken promises, the defects, and the fix you want. Keep copies of everything.
• Step 5 — File complaints with the CFPB, the Florida Attorney General, and the DBPR against the contractor's license. Complaints build your paper trail and often force a written response.
• Step 6 — Calendar your deadlines. Florida claims run on statutes of limitation, and waiting quietly can kill a good case.
• Step 7 — Only after all of the above, and only with legal advice, decide whether withholding payment under the Holder Rule makes sense for your facts.

• How to file a complaint against a solar company in Florida →
• How long do you have to sue? Florida solar deadlines →

What a Realistic Outcome Looks Like

Be careful with anyone who promises your loan will simply 'disappear.' Real-world resolutions usually look like this: a reduced balance, a lower monthly payment, waived fees, removal of the UCC-1 filing, credit-report corrections — and, in strong cases involving fraud, forgery, or systems that never worked, cancellation of the whole contract. Cash on top of that happens, but it is the exception, not the rule.

For a sense of scale: the FTC's 2022 order against Ygrene totaled $3 million, and when roughly $2.9 million went out to consumers in 2025, the median check was about $2,555. That was a federal agency with full investigative power behind it. Set your expectations accordingly — meaningful relief is realistic; lottery money is not.

One Florida backstop worth knowing: if your solar contractor was licensed and you win a court judgment you cannot collect, Florida's Construction Recovery Fund may pay part of it. Solar (CVC) contractors fall under Division II, with caps of $15,000 for contracts signed before July 2024 and up to $30,000 for newer ones. You need the judgment first, and there is a one-year deadline to apply — one more reason not to sit on a claim.

Expect months, not weeks. A written dispute may draw a response in 30 to 60 days. Arbitration or a lawsuit usually runs many months. The homeowners who do best are the ones with the cleanest paper: contract, photos, bills, permits, and a written record of every promise that was made.

What to Do This Week

• Find your contract. If you cannot, request a copy in writing from your servicer today.
• Locate the all-caps Holder Rule Notice in the contract and highlight it.
• Pull 12 months of loan statements, plus FPL or Duke bills from before and after the install.
• Check your county permit portal: was the solar work permitted, inspected, and finaled?
• Check your TRIM notice or property tax bill to rule PACE in or out.
• Write a one-page timeline of what the salesperson promised, while you still remember it.
• Keep paying on time for now. Do not stop payments before your record is built and you have legal advice.
• If the system itself is the problem — dead panels, roof leaks, no PTO — get its physical condition documented by a licensed contractor.