Things must have been pretty good back in the early days of tribal lending for a company called Red Rock Financial. This was essentially a financial holding company that owned a number of Native American loan shops including Cash Advance Network, Good Time Cash, and other now defunct companies.
There is an important distinction that needs to be made with this tribal lender. We have to be careful when using the "Cash Advance" moniker when talking about tribal lending companies because there have actually been three total firms that have in one way or another used the term "Cash Advance" in their company title.
The first is the company we are talking about here, which is Cash Advance Network. This Native American lender seems to have been an early player in the tribal lending game and they went out of business in either 2011 or 2012. This company is gone and their website address just goes to a static page full of ads.
There are two other tribal loan shops that are still in business using the "Cash Advance" and those are Cash Advance Now and the other is just Cash Advance.
The more popular is Cash Advance. This is a tribally owned company that engages in lending, but not directly. They are a lending service that arranges and matches potential borrowers with a group of lenders. The company name is an exact match to the popular website CashAdvance.com and this is one of the more popular tribal companies.
The other is Cash Advance Now and this company is a bit more obscure. They are a short-term lender that issues loans in a similar manner to companies like Blue Thread Lending and Boulevard Cash. Unlike Cash Advance, the Cash Advance Now company originates and funds their own loans.
So this can get a little confusing with all the similar names. If you are looking for Cash Advance Network, then you can forget it, they are out of business and their phones (and fax) lines are all down. If you are looking for the popular Cash Advance website, then do not confuse it with the less popular Cash Advance Now site.
Cash Advance Network had problems with their customers. Even though the company site is gone the complaints about the firm live on in a number of forums, complaint boards, and other posts. The main complaint was that the company was not good when it came to being honest about the amount of money that would go to the principal of their loans versus how much would go towards finance charges.
One complaint that was common was that Cash Advance Network would state that a loan had been closed and then come back later (sometimes much later) with demands for repayment of an outstanding loan. That's disturbing, how can you know you paid off your loan if the company tells you it is completed, then that same company comes back months or years later, claiming you owe them money and demanding payment? Not a good way to conduct business, no wonder this company went down the drain.
Below is a complaint that a customer had about a loan that was taken out and repaid in 2008, but then later the company approached the customer and left him a message to contact them. The customer states...
"When I called Cash Advance Network again, suddenly I owed $400 from 2008"
This complaint was posted in April of 2012. Was this a last ditch effort of Cash Advance Network to get hold of money before they went out of business? Who knows, but it sure seems strange that an account that has been repaid for four years should suddenly come back to life and now all of a sudden this customer owes $400. Another odd thing is that it's my experience that if you owe any money to a tribal lender, even $50, they will keep contacting you to get that money. So for a past due amount of $400 to be just sitting around collecting dust and then abruptly the company is calling and demanding payment, that just seems really out of character.
The reality is it could have been the dying gasp of Cash Advance Network. They may have started calling their old customers or maybe their computers malfunctioned, and suddenly all of their old customers owed them more finance charges. Wow, how convenient. Another option is that a different company got hold of the client information, possibly through a sale of data. This third party company could have called claiming that money was still due, even it was not.
What an inglorious way to check out. Cash Advance Network is gone and it's probably for the best. Their legacy is one of anger, discontent, displeasure and unhappy customers. Just another tribal lender that is making customers angry. More Native American lenders need to learn the lesson that Clear Creek Lending is teaching, which is treat the customer good and make your money with an honest, transparent way. People are getting tired of all these fees and high interest rates from the payday lending crowd. So long Cash Advance Network, it was nice not knowing you.
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