One of the newest tribal lenders to hit the internet scene is a company called Direct Lenders Loan. This obscure lender has a few features that are very familiar but they have a couple things that make them very different from the average online lender.
Let's start with the standard stuff which you will find extremely familiar. First, the top loan amount a new borrower can get is $1,000 and the reality is that most borrowers will not qualify for that much. Expect to qualify for somewhere between $500 and $800 as a first time customer.
All the standard requirements are in place, you need to have a job, you need to be at least 18 years old, and you need to have an active bank account that can be used to deposit the funds.
Here is another familiar number for you, which is 30% on every loan. That means every 14 days you have to pay $30 for every $100 you borrow. No surprise here as this seems to be the most common rate these days, but remember it never hurts to try to negotiate this number. There's a good chance that Direct Lenders Loan (or any online lender) might concede a certain percentage if you ask them outright.
Pretty obvious and regular operations in place here, not too much out of the ordinary. However, here are a few situations that make Direct Lenders Loan different...
First, Direct Lenders Loan wins the award for being the first tribal lender that has a designated way to repay the loan by using old fashioned snail mail. That's right, you can actually mail in a payment rather than having (being forced to) use your checking account to suck out the money automatically. This was stunning. I honestly didn't think I would find any tribal lender that would allow a mailed in payment.
If you want this option you have to let the company know when you are applying for the loan. It would be curious to see how they track the date for the payment, do they use the postal stamp as proof that the borrower made the payment on time? That's not too important but it would be interesting to figure that out because it seems like it would be very easy to make late payments if a customer was going to mail in a payment. You know the old saying, the 'check's in the mail' which of course means it is not.
Another major difference that sets Direct Lenders Loan apart from other loan companies is that they indicate on their FAQ page that bankruptcies are alright. This is substantially different from nearly all other tribal lenders. Those lenders are quick to say that if you have a previous bankruptcy, or a pending bankruptcy, then don't even bother applying because you will not be approved. Direct Lenders Loan is willing to work with any potential customer as long as they have a job. And just a note on that, the company doesn't make any preclusion for how long you have had the job which many lenders do qualify, often it's a minimum of six months.
The third thing that sets Direct Lenders Loan in a separate category from nearly all other lenders is that they have a calculator on their rates webpage that will actually formulate the cost of skipping a payment. And it isn't just as simple as scheduling a single skipped payment, the calculator allows for up to five skipped payments. Each skipped payment adds on a financial charge (which is the normal financial charge that you would have paid on your payday) to the loan amount. This is unique because if a borrower wanted to make an arrangement to create a loan that started with a skipped payment, then a payment made in the second pay period and then another skipped payment in the third pay period, well that is evidently alright with this company.
This is unique amongst all lenders. I have encountered more than a few lenders that allow for a skipped payment. But a lender that allows you to calculate (and build in) more than one skipped payments? That's a first. This lender is willing to trust in your capability (and willingness) to repay the loan, otherwise there would not be these opportunities to skip payments. By the way, the word "opportunity" does apply in this instance, because sometimes a borrower just absolutely can't make a payment especially near the front end of the loan.
As an overall review Direct Lenders Loan gets a good review. The reason mainly is their flexibility to establish loan time frames and the ability to skip a payment. They have information on their website that talks about missing payments and how to handle that (with the usual instruction to call into customer service ahead of time) so the firm realizes people can have trouble repaying. The rates published are universally 30% so that is not so good. I would try to negotiate with the company before signing any loan documents. Just tell them you have a similar lender that is willing to do a loan at 25% and can Direct Lenders match that; they might say 'no' but it's worth a try.
The company just seems more relaxed than some other tribal loan firms and that is a good sign. You should be able to maneuver and make a deal for interest rates, time on the loan, or amount due for skipping a loan. The company has another good feature in that they use the highest level of security with the 256 bit encryption, which is always a good feature. With the main downside being the fact that they charge 30% being rather common in the world of online payday loans (all else being the same on the interest rate side) it makes Direct Lenders Loan pretty easy to recommend.
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