Sometimes it's better to read what other customers have to say about a tribal lender than trying to figure out the company by yourself. That's what we're doing here with Big Valley Financial. This small tribal lender has been around for awhile and they haven't received much press. The company does have a significant customer base and the question is are those customers making the right decision? And do you, as someone trying to find a 'good' Native American loan, want to get into debt with this company?
The best way to answer that question is to look at what other (past and present) Big Valley Financial customers are saying about their experiences with the company.
Big Valley financial was not honest when they first explained their payment options, and the company is charging way more than the legal limit of 16% in the state I live in. Against my better judgment I decided to conduct some business with Big Valley Financial in early July of 2013. I borrowed a $600 loan and the customer representative made the allusion that the repayments would be simple for me to handle and that paying off the loan wouldn't be a big deal. But I ended up getting many overdraft fees in my checking account which turned out to be anything except simple and easy to deal with.
All through this time I thought I was getting closer to repaying the loan but then I was informed by the customer service team that I hadn't even come close to repaying this loan. I was simply paying on the interest the whole time and not on the principal amount so there was no progress toward getting out of debt which is exactly what these companies want to happen.
Someone tipped me off to get in touch with the New York Banking Department and I did, and they let me know that Big Valley Financial wasn't charging the legal loan rate (the limit) of 16% in the state. They said I should talk to the lender to see if they could be persuaded to charge the legal limit since I was a resident of New York. Things went from bad to worse because of course the loan company didn't want to hear about the changes I needed.
I contacted my bank and had a stop order put on my checking account that wouldn't allow this company to take any more payments from my account. As of September of 2013 I haven't been bothered by anyone from Big Valley Financial to resolve this matter. They haven't complained at me for cutting them off and yet they haven't negotiated with me to pay the 16% rate either.
Alright, so that review is pretty well put together. I liked how the customer handled this situation by calmly going to the right channels and then calmly working with their bank to thwart any further payments. If there is any defense we can give Big Valley Financial, and believe me I'm not too thrilled to give them any credit, is that they almost certainly did provide this customer with the rate they would be paying. The customer acted surprised at what they would be paying (the high rate) which is a bit silly because when they digitally signed the loan documents the rate was undoubtedly right there in front of their face.
Here is a second Big Valley Financial review, where a customer from late in 2013 is talking about how they did not have a good experience...
About two months ago I was completely out of cash and had no options so I borrowed $500 from Big Valley Financial. This loan was supposed to have a 30% interest rate attached to it, that's what I was told by the customer service group when I spoke with them on the phone. Up to this point I have made a $200 payment and another one for $135. Now the company has let me know with a telephone call that the $135 amount is only being applied to the interest that's due on the loan and that my balance is still at $500.
The $135 has been taken out of my checking account every two weeks and it's getting to the point that I can't pay this any longer. The problem is that the original bill is still sitting out there are $500. All my payments are not making a dent in the principal so it means this entire arrangement is not good for me and that it will never end.
I recently went through a divorce which took a toll on my financial situation. The company didn't do a good job of explaining this entire loan process, the repayment process or just how they operate. I feel they misrepresented their policies or at least didn't give me all the important details. Who has the ability to just keep throwing away $135 every two weeks? Not me that's for sure.
Alright, so here is an unhappy customer who once again is trapped in that endless land of repayments, where the structure of the loan is such that the bi-weekly repayment cycle only takes the interest due on the loan from that time frame. Since there is no scheduled repayments that will lower the principal amount the loan will last forever unless the customer decides to be proactive and pay more than the scheduled amounts.
That is much easier to talk about, or write about, than it is to do. Most people are very tight budgets by the time they start getting Native American loans. Getting the funds scratched together to pay extra on the loan is just not very realistic for the majority of borrowers.
In the end I can't say that I think that Big Valley Financial is worth my time, or your time. The company offers a 30% interest rate loan that has become a standard for the tribal industry but that doesn't mean we want to take that loan. There are some other Native American loan companies that have lower rates.
The companies I like to use are Mobiloans, Plain Green Loans and if you are looking for a smaller (paycheck) lender then take a look at RadiantCash. All of these companies are tribal loan firms and that means they will be just as easy to qualify for as Big Valley Financial, so that's not an issue. Big Valley Financial is not the tribal lender that I am interested in due to the competition that they're facing from others in their industry.
Recent Comments