Bright Day Loans now has installment loans that are offered up to $1,000. Now maybe I missed something here, but I didn't think this company was on my list of tribal installment lenders back in 2013. I spoke with a customer rep at the company and they said there has been no change in the company's policy when it comes to their lending program. Alright, well then let's not call it a change and just say that this is an update to the information being provided for Bright Day Loans.
Whether a Native American lender offers an installment loan or a payday loan makes all the difference on these pages. And you can throw in whether or not they offer a line of credit as well. But the big differential is the break between those that have payday lending (which is by far the more common types of tribal lenders) or whether they offer an installment loan product. The installment lenders who are wholly owned tribal entities are the companies that get the main focus from this site.
Why? It's simple, they are just better options for most consumers. The installment lenders win when it comes to time to repay the loan, the amount of money that can be borrowed, the interest rate that is paid (the cost of the loan) and the flexibility of the debtor to make changes to the repayment schedule and dates. In my estimation there is no comparison between the payday crowd and the longer term installment lending firms.
Bright Day Loans will certainly not be one of the top rated tribal installment lenders because they fall short in a few key areas. First, the interest rate varies for their customers because it's dependent on which state the customer resides in. Customers in New York and New Jersey will get a better rate than those who live in Illinois or Texas.
That's not fair, I realize that Bright Day Loans is trying to curry favor from the state financial regulators but I don't want a tribal lender that has different terms for different customers. What happened to all that talk of Native American sovereignty and full independence?
If Bright Day Loans is that worried about meeting the legal standards set forward by state regulators then they should just take the lowest rate of any of the states and then implement that low rate for all of their customers.
Wouldn't that cut into the profitability of the company? Absolutely it would, and I couldn't care less about that, I want equal treatment for all customers of a lender and if it takes having a low interest rate with uniform standards then I think that's how the lender should operate.
The second problem I have with this firm is that they only have a $1,000 maximum loan amount. When I think about tribal installment lenders the first names that come to mind are Plain Green Loans, Great Plains Lending and of course the now defunct Western Sky Financial. These companies have (or had) lending programs that range from $3K to $10K for terms would last anywhere from six to 18 months.
Now enter Bright Day Loans and their more basic $1,000 max loan amount and it just doesn't strike me that this company is trying to make an impact. Remember, it is definitely better to have a $1K installment loan product than to be a payday lender, so Bright Day does beat out most of the Native American loan companies by default (since mostly they are payday loan shops) but when it comes to being compared to the other tribal installment lenders then Bright Day Loans is coming up short.
Beyond those two problems I do appreciate that we have another debt issuer that's willing to offer a loan that extends for more than 14 days. If you know this site at all you realize that it has come to the point where I basically do not consider payday lending to actually be categorized as "lending" at all. I like to say this is the "extremely short-term usage of funds that involves a very high cost" business model. Yes, it's quite a few more words than just saying "payday lending" but I think it hits home the message quite well.
Would I recommend using Bright Day Loans? Only in the rare circumstance that you already have a loan outstanding with operators like Plain Green Loans or Great Plains Lending. Or if for some reason you could no longer do business with those outfits (due to past due loans or unpaid fees or a defaulted loan) or if you had been denied credit with these companies. And that is a possibility. I know that Clear Creek Lending has some higher standards in place, and I know from personal experience that landing a loan through Great Plains Lending isn't always that easy, even if you have a job, you have to make a certain amount of money and provide some references as well.
In the rare instances that you are locked out or are otherwise unable to borrow from my big list of tribal installment lenders then I would say that going to Bright Day Loans would be a good idea. Just remember, as always, it's the best solution for you to try to repay as much of the principal as you can right away and not let the loan run the full (scheduled) allotment of time. That way you'll avoid paying huge amounts of interest and automatically lower the cost of the debt.
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