Here's another relatively new player in the tribal lending game, introducing Great Eagle Lending. How exciting. Actually, for a moment it was a little exciting because the loan amount is listed at $1,000 and the company advertised the fact that they are an installment lender rather than (just another) payday loan shop. Not that these two facts alone are that great, but it's come to the point that it is always refreshing to find a Native American lender that doesn't just try to use the same $300 payday loan method which we've seen dozens of times.
Great Eagle Lending has a few things that are interesting but they start to lose their luster right away, at least for me they did. The company offers up to $1,000 in their maximum loan product which is good and definitely ranks as an "above average" score when compared to the overall market of tribal lenders. But then we get to the rates and terms portion of their website and then things come undone. There is a banner that reads "Rates & Terms" but when you go to that page, there are no rates or terms listed. This might be a first. Some companies do not disclose their rates, that's not too unusual, but I don't think they tend to put up a page acting as if they do disclose the rates.
The problem here, as we have encountered at so many other loan firms, is that we are being asked to apply for a loan without being given one of the most basic aspects of the product. Don't you think it matters to me if I am going to pay 300% in interest or 700% in interest? If it doesn't matter too much to these online lenders then it should absolutely matter to you as a consumer. In general, no one is looking for tribal loans unless they are desperate for cash and/or they have a troubled credit score. Otherwise, they would be working with a more conservative, mainstream lender like Springleaf.
Why then, if we know that people who are having financial trouble, not being informed of what the interest rates will be on their loans from Great Eagle Lending? The problem is that is a question with no answer, or another way of putting it would be to say that the company knows their clients are very desperate and will accept just about any terms in order to get their hands on some money.
Not to harp on the issue too long, but the Great Eagle Lending website is almost hilarious at one point. Just like we covered, their site has a section that says rates and terms but there are no rates or terms at the site.
Bad enough, but here's the funny part...
Near the bottom of the page there are three sentences that are just mind blowing and stunning if you pay attention to what's written. Below is a copy, verbatim, of how the site reads as of September 2013....
"Great Eagle Lending prides itself on keeping you informed. We fully disclose the Cost and Terms. You know the amount and date that a payment is due."
Really? Where exactly do you do that? There is just no such information there and yet the statement is completely counter to the digital reality of the website staring us in the face. There just isn't the information here, and yet "you know" when the payment is due. Wow, thanks for letting me know when the payment is due, I'm sure there are no other tribal loan companies that are going to bother with that unimportant side issue of when they get their money back. Who wrote this? This is silly and terrible, except for the fact that it's just plain funny. The company doesn't publish rates but they will make sure you know when to make your payments. Wow, amazing. Thank you so much Great Eagle Lending, I don't know what we would do if you didn't let us know exactly which days on the calendar you can get huge profits from our hard earned wagers. Rather than be insulted I'm actuallyl just laughing.
I guess the inference here is that when you apply for a loan and are approved for that loan, you can learn what your conditions (terms) for that loan will be right then. This is not a way of doing business that I appreciate. The $1,000 loan amount is nice, the installment loan format is good, but the lack of rates or terms is just not acceptable to me. I don't want to know pertinent information about the product I'm applying after I have already applied for it. I don't want to send my personal financial information over the net just to find out it was a waste of time and I do not want the product after all. I needed to know that on the front end, that's why companies publish the information on their products or at least give an example of what a typical customer will encounter.
Plus, if it's a payday loan company then it does not matter quite as much. These type of loans are so cookie cutter the interest rate still matters but the loan is designed to be repaid so quickly the amount of interest won't swing too big either way. But on an installment loan where you can be looking at huge differences in time and money, then it really matters. Is the loan due in eight weeks or 50 weeks? Is the APR going to be 280% or 500%, or more? These questions need meaningful, concrete answers because it is going to turn out to be a lot of money paid in interest if you are not careful.
The last detail of difficulty with Great Eagle Lending is that their peers offer the rates and terms, very readily. Mobiloans, Plain Green Loans, Great Plains Lending, and Clear Creek Lending, all of these firms do a good job at disclosing their basic installment loan products with either having the rates published or common customer examples.
The fact that Great Eagle can't get this information into their site just makes me very disinterested in the company and their loan offering. Mobiloans offers an installment loan with pretty decent terms, you might want to check there before signing-up with Great Eagle Lending.
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