Back in the dawn of internet lending, which for many companies is 2006, there weren't nearly the number of options that we see in 2014. The companies that did exist were mostly state licensed 'ground breaking' firms that were forging their way onto the internet. And in those early online years there were a few Native American lenders trying to make a go at the business as well. Some of those early entrants were companies like 500 Fast Cash and United Cash Loans.
A few other early lenders in this space were located in other countries. The same situation exists today, only with many more overseas lenders in the mix. And it's the usual batch of countries that make a home for these internet-based lenders. Two of the most popular countries for these offshore lenders include Belize and Costa Rica, with the Dominican Republic bringing in a close third.
That's where an early internet lending company called American Web Cash was based, specifically out of Belize. It's interesting because now American Web Cash is out of business and it's hard to find any information on the now defunct company. And is that any surprise?
Just when you thought finding out information on Native American lending companies was a difficult task, try finding information about online lenders that are headquartered in a foreign country like Belize.
I think that's part of the undoing of these type of lenders though, because they have such absolute freedom from any state regulation (or any federal guidelines) the companies are free to treat their customers in any fashion that they see fit. And from the looks of all the complaints that American Web Cash has out on the usual complaint boards and forums, there's no wonder at all as to why this firm didn't stay in business. The displeasure at this lender is more than a little intense.
Still that's not a reason for most tribal loan shops to pack their bags and call it a day. Look at tribally-based loan firms like 500 Fast Cash and United Cash Loans, they've been operating for many years and through it all they've taken all manner of complaints all across the internet. Some are from consumer groups or blogs, websites dedicated to financial fairness and most of all from ex-customers who launch into endless tirades of financial anger and sorrow.
The truth is we will never really know why American Web Cash is out of business. Tribal lenders don't have to file any type of public documents, and none of these companies (including American Web Cash) ever issue stock to the public so there's no reporting or public disclosure of any kind.
Plus, since they are technically a sovereign nation (Native American tribe affiliated company) they have even less public information responsibilities when compared to state licensed (regular) businesses.
No matter what happened to this tribal lender they were one of the first on the scene for the now extremely popular merger of tribal lending combined with internet loans. Before anyone was talking about American tribes getting into the online lending business their was American Web Cash pushing the concept many years ago.
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