It seems as though the financial folks who like to offer the Go Loan branded loan product just can't get enough websites. In addition to the many others we have covered over the past year here is another new lender, it is Bottom Dollar Payday. Just like the old saying goes you can risk your bottom dollar that Bottom Dollar Payday isn't worth the time it will take to read this review.
What we have with Bottom Dollar Payday is a very familiar theme. It is another tribal lender trying to get people to sign a loan agreement for an extremely short-term loan. The shortest number of days the loan can run is nine and the maximum number of days can theoretically stretch out to 31 days but this will not happen in the real world.
For some reason (and I have a belief as to why they do this) a multitude of Native American payday lenders like to post their rates and terms page as if they have this month-long loan. It looks nice because the APR (annual percentage rate) for this supposed 31 day loan drops down to 353% which is still an alarmingly high interest rate. But do not be fooled, this is not an option for you to take advantage of, not even for a small dollar amount like $300.
When you fill out the paperwork and sign the loan agreement with Bottom Dollar (assuming you make that decision) you will be getting a maximum number of days somewhere between 19 to 21 calendar days. And that is stretching the potential of the situation. It is far more likely that you will receive anywhere from 12 to 17 days to repay the loan. If you take the loan for exactly two weeks (14 calendar days) then you will be paying what has come to be the 'base APR' for the tribal version of the payday loan.
Get ready to be stunned because this tribally-based payday loan industry (of which there are at least 150 companies and perhaps many more) the base rate is 782% APR. Financially (and morally) this is a truly questionable amount of money to pay for a loan, even an unsecured loan. All tribal loans are unsecured by the way.
Remember in the 1990's when there were a lot of complaints about the high interest rates that credit card companies were charging? And even worse, there were many complaints about the high rates that retail store cards were charging. Those "extreme" credit card rates were anywhere from 16% to 24% APR. And the so called "dangerous" retail store cards were 27% to 32% or slightly more.
But those rates now look fantastic when compared to the Native American lending rates of 782% APR. Those old credit card rates that were considered so bad would now be looked upon as a financial windfall, they would be considered a fantastic gift that would allow American consumers to get their financial lives put back together.
It's funny how time and change wash over a society, a situation like this provides a real degree of clarity for understanding the word perspective. From the perspective of 1995 a 20% APR was considered outlandish and the 782% APR was nowhere on the map for any financial company.
Skip ahead to 2015 and there are hundreds of lenders (most of them have some level of Native American affiliation, but not all of them) who are willing to charge over 700% in an APR. What a huge gulf of space we have covered in 20 years. We went from 30% APR being an unbelievable finance charge to having 782% APR being a standard issued financial product from well over 100 companies. This might be acceptable to some consumers, and obviously it is as these tribal lenders are very busy, but for my own selections I will not include the 782% APR 'team' for my own potential lenders.
The problem is borrowers used to have choices and now they really don't, or at least the field of options is so limited that it seems like we have no choice. However, we do still have some alternative choices for unsecured lending, namely the few providers of installment loans and the even fewer group of companies that offer a line of credit. Some of the tribal lenders that are in this space are Mobiloans, Plain Green Loans, Great Plains Lending and Superior Funding.
Bottom Dollar Payday is not the solution for my financial difficulties and I doubt that they will do much to alleviate any financial problems that you may be experiencing.
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