If you are at this site, for this particular write-up about Big Eye Lending, then you're most likely familiar with this company to some extent. Why is that? It's because Big Eye Lending is one of the most obscure tribal lenders out of more than 100 Native American loan companies.
This is certainly one of the least known and the company never makes it into the news. The company is so small that none of the state regulators have even bothered or mentioned the company while bashing lenders like Western Sky and Plain Green Loans.
But what about Big Eye Lending? Is there loan operation worth looking at? Let's find out by looking at the few reviews that I could find floating around on the net.
The problem is that there aren't many reviews for Big Eye Lending. Well, there are a few complaints but in comparison to other tribal lenders it's quite few. The BBB currently only has 30 complaints / negative reviews against the company for the last three years and that's incredibly low when compared to some of the larger short-term operators in Native American lending, like United Fast Cash and 500 Fast Cash. Those companies have hundreds of complaints.
Let's look at a couple of the complaints against Big Eye Lending and see what can be learned from those displeased customers...
I turned off the ability of this lender to deduct funds via the ACH method because I didn't want my checking account to go negative from the charges they were putting against me.
I kept telling them for days that I needed to make a change to the scheduled withdrawal date. It wasn't like I just told them I wouldn't pay as I kept asking them to help me arrange a new repayment date and that I would eventually get even with them. I left them more than a few voicemails and I also emailed a few times.
Big Eye decided to finally give me a call but I didn't pick-up the phone. They left a message and they confirmed that they received my message and would not make the withdrawal as had been originally scheduled.
What looked like good news quickly fell apart as the very next day, and even before I could even call them back, they had debited my account for $105. I quickly let them know that this charge hadn't been authorized and that this event was putting my checking account into the negative. Of course I got hit with a fee, it was for $38. Then it gets even worse as the lender withdrew $300 which was not authorized at all. That second charge resulted in a second insufficient funds charge of another $38.
The exact opposite is taking place from what I requested of them, as they are taking money out much more quickly and I needed a little bit longer time to get them the money and make a slightly different arrangement from our original deal.
So I decided to fight back. First, I blocked my account from all ACH electronic transactions. Then I contacted the state of Indiana to let them know that Big Eye Lending was issuing loans in the state for way above the legal limit of 15% per pay period. Plus, they were charging way over that legal fee, I mean by a lot. Also, it turns out that in Indiana lenders need to have a license and this lender isn't licensed to even issue loans in the state of Indiana.
Alright, so another happy customer. First, I will begin with the last statement by the customer where they talk about Big Eye Lending not having and needing a license by the state. Technically this is incorrect because Big Eye Lending is a tribal lender that doesn't need any state or federal approval for their loans. Tribal lenders operate from their sovereign lands and that means they are immune to (protected from) the state laws governing lending money.
Beyond that it's easy to see why a borrower would be unhappy with Big Eye Lending. This particular customer needed some extra time to repay, although they never confirm to us what that timeframe is, did they need an extra week or an extra month? Either way, it didn't matter because upon hearing that the customer wasn't going to repay on time the lender just started yanking out money from the customer's checking account.
This is surprising in one sense because part of the protocol of the Native American lender is to do everything by the book and per what's written in the contract with no deviation at all. This is a protection for the tribal lender from those who would cry foul that they did wrong by issuing these loans. When the tribal lender executes everything that they say they will do, and they do so on time, then it gives them some cover against the critiques who say these loans are predatory in nature. But maybe Big Eye was doing poorly financially and could tell that what was a short-term request for additional time to repay would transform into a long-term repayment story.
By deciding to just grab the money from the account like some schoolyard bully it puts Big Eye Lending in a different spotlight for me. This is a company that will follow the rules until they think that something might go wrong and then they're willing to just do whatever they want to get their money.
Here is the second review for the tribal lender Big Eye...
I had decided to payoff an outstanding loan with Big Eye Lending on November 1st, 2013. This transaction put my checking account into the negative. I keep writing to the company but they have not acknowledged my communications with them. The difficulty is that the loan payoff was scheduled for November 1st that's when I get paid but the lender took out the funds from my account on October 31st, 2013. So it only sounds like one day early but since I hadn't gotten paid yet it caused my account to go negative and then I had to deal with the bank fees and overdraft charge.
Although it's much shorter (and more concise) this complaint is truly interesting to me. Why would a tribal lender, any lender, move against their customer one day early and destroy their finances with the customer's bank.
One reason I can think of is that the customer may try to squirrel away the money from the checking account before the transaction from the tribal lender comes inbound into the account. Basically, the lender might be angling to make sure they get their money before any other lender or expense or withdrawal finds its way to that checking account. But when they do that they create a situation that ruins the entire (already questionable) experience for the customer.
The customer came to the lender in an hour of need to get some short-term funds to help them, and the last thing they need are insufficient funds charges posted against them because Big Eye Lending couldn't wait one more day to get their precious digital tender.
The review on Big Eye Lending is to just walk away. Head straight to your uncle or mom to borrow some money, there's a good chance they're sitting on a lot more cash than you are. If that strategy doesn't work then try some other tribal lenders that are more reasonable.
- Use Mobiloans or Spotloan for great flexible repayment terms and timeframes.
- Use Plain Green Loans or Great Plains Lending for loans up to $3,000.
- Use Clear Creek Lending if any of the above companies say "no" to you when you request a loan.
There are better options and there is no reason I can see to put my time into trying to get a Big Eye Lending loan product.
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