EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Lorena Vargas still feels uneasy at home after a stranger knocked on her door late at night several times before she finally learned what the visit was about.
Vargas said it was to notify her of a lawsuit alleging she owed $100,000 in loans for solar panels and by an out-of-town partnership she’d never heard of or done business with. The stress has taken its toll on her. She’s never received solar panels either.
“I cannot say how I feel inside,” she said. “I think I’m going to end up in the hospital.”
Vargas and her attorneys with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid have filed a counter claim against a New Jersey bank and business along with a financial company from Florida. Vargas is demanding $250,000 in damages in monetary relief as well as attorney’s fees.
Lorena Vargas and her attorneys at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid are fighting a lawsuit alleging she owes $100,000 for a solar panel loan.
She still pays her bills using cash and said she never signed a contract or agreed to purchase or take out a loan for solar panels. Her lawsuit alleges a partnership between Cross River Bank, Sunlight Financial LLC and Titan Asset Purchasing LLC, created a “massive contract” with her name and information without her knowledge and consent.
“As it has been documented to do with many other victims, Cross River Bank and its co-conspirators caused Vargas’s previously solid credit to be checked and inserted dealer fees into her contract, but did not bother to check whether she had ever agreed to or even knew about any part of the ‘transaction’,” The counter-claim states. “In fact, they checked her credit more than once without her consent or knowledge.”
KTSM has reached out to the businesses for comment.
Wayne Krause Yang, manager of the consumer protection team at TRLA, alleges Cross River Bank has a history of having clients who are unaware they owe thousands of dollars in loans for solar panels. He represents Vargas and says he’s seen a large contract with what appears to be her signature.
“It is only a forged digital signature,” he said. “She never talked to anybody. She never touched anybody’s electronic device and she sure did not have a pen in her hand to sign a contract. And, yet, Cross River Bank and its co-conspirators are putting this document forth, in a court of law, as evidence she agreed to a loan she had never heard of before. It’s sinister and it’s turning her life upside down.”
Krause Yang says it is illegal to use forged signatures on contracts but many are unaware they can contest those kind of documents.
El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez joined Vargas and her attorneys at the TRLA headquarters in South El Paso. She advised El Pasoans to call law enforcement or her office if they feel pressured to enter a contract or uncomfortable with aggressive tactics.
“One of the things that these panels, these companies, have to engage in is they have to register with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations,” Sanchez said. “They have to be licensed by them. So, do your homework. Check that out. Ask others who have perhaps purchased solar panels, get recommendations. Call my office, so, that we can do a search and tell you whether or not this particular company that you’re looking to do business with is or has been convicted of a crime. We are happy to share that information.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.