Ameriloan has been around for awhile and they are considered an established tribal loan company. The company has been getting some negative attention from the state of New York lately, but before the complaints from state regulators came rolling in earlier this year there were already many hundreds of complaints from current and ex-customers of Ameriloan.
So while all the attention right now is one what happens with the federal courts and the state regulators, let's instead take a step back and look at some of the complaints lodged against Ameriloan on the many different complaint boards and websites.
Below are a few of the complaints that I found that were written against Ameriloan...
The first complaint comes from a customer who has been with Ameriloan for eight years, that must be some kind of record for working with a tribal loan company because they haven't even been around that long. Here is the complaint...
"I have been taking out loans with Ameriloan for almost 8 years. They've always been paid off in full and always on time. My last payment on the current loan is $130 which was going to be paid off this September. At this time I chose to pay the loan in full. When I talked to their customer service and told them I wanted to take out a new loan next month after this one was paid off they said I would be denied. I asked why and they still have no answer for me. Not a surprise."
Okay, so this is a bit of an odd complaint. There aren't too many borrowers that complain that they were getting short-term loans for years and now they will not be eligible any longer. This incident took place earlier this year (2013) and the problem was that Ameriloan was most likely under pressure from the state of New York (both the attorney general and the state financial regulator) so they were in some type of temporary hiatus where they held up their business to make sure they were not getting into legal trouble. I don't count this complaint as a true complaint since it's really not about the company or their loan terms.
Here is a second complaint against this lender, it comes from a write back in June of 2013, where they wrote "I took out a $650.00 loan from Ameriloan and ended up repaying over $2,500.00 for that same loan. I found myself in a desperate spot and this company was more than happy to take advantage of my bad situation.
Had I not reviewed my ongoing payment history, I never would have known they were continuing to steal from me. That $2,500 figure would only have kept growing as they are never interested in concluding the final payoff amount. No, they would rather keep you paying their endless payments to satisfy their endless need for more fees. I will never again use this lending company, and I will advise you that you should avoid them too."
This complaint is common and it basically gives us insight to both Ameriloan and to the average Ameriloan consumer.
First, it demonstrates that there is really no reason to use Ameriloan under any condition other than extreme duress. And even then it might be a good idea to just be broke rather than take a loan from them. The company charges high interest and they demand their money back in a very short timeframe. Just like all payday lenders if you don't have the money to repay the full loan then you have to pay the finance charge and this resets the loan for the next 14 days. This is a dangerous road and it doesn't help your financial situation any possible way.
Second, it shows that many Ameriloan customers simply do not care to read the loan documents that they must sign in order to get the money in the first place. The problem is that an average American will work for $12 or $15 or $20 an hour, which means they will give up their entire day for somewhere less than $160 and often much less than that. So then it would make sense that if someone or some company was going to charge them an amazing amount of money in fees for a transaction (a loan is a transaction after all) that the consumer (who is also the worker) would take notice.
If you are willing to work all day for some set amount of money then it seems as though it would be a good idea to spend 10 or 20 minutes reading the terms of the loan you are about to sign. In this case the customer not only was unaware that they were going to have to keep making payments (the loan was obviously set-up so as to only pay the finance charge every two weeks) but they also didn't even bother to review the transactions that were taking place in their checking account, to the point that the total tab wound-up around $2,500.
This is insane. Are the Dancing With Stars / American Idol / America's Got Crappy Talent shows really that stunningly interesting? So tremendously captivating that you are unable to spend an hour going over some minor details, like balancing your checkbook?
Do yourself a favor, and stay away from Ameriloan and stay away from turning into the type of person that is an Ameriloan customer, which is vacant and disconnected from your own existence. Turn off the television, and do something meaningful like balance your checkbook and if you need a loan then shop around, negotiate with lenders, and do some research.
If you are in need of a tribal lender that is (halfway) decent then try either Plain Green Loans or Mobiloans both of which are tribal installment lenders and will provide a better level and quality of loan than Ameriloan could ever deliver.
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