Now that Western Sky Financial is completely phased out of the lending picture there needs to be a long hard look at what Indian reservation loan companies are still left. And I'm not talking about the scores of tribal lenders that are all excited to issue an extremely short-term loan for $300 or $500. Many people, myself included, do not even count this version of a "loan" as a true form of debt. It's just not a loan, it is not a lending product.
If I need the use of someone else's cash (last time I checked that was the definition of a loan) then that's exactly what I need. And when I say that I need the use of it, that means I'll be needing the use of it for more than 15 calendar days. That's not even 15 business days mind you, we're talking about 15 total days (Saturdays, Sundays, holidays are included) so that is not a very long time. To try to convince us that these payday loans are truly an issuance of debt is just laughable and depressing at the same time.
The tribal company Western Sky was the only "big" lender amongst all the Native American loan companies. Western Sky would issue up to $10K in a single loan to an individual borrower. When the firm failed (or was run out of town, as some would point out) it left a number of other installment loan shops trying to fill the void.
The only problem is that none of them can do the same job that Western Sky did.
The highest amount of money that anyone can borrow from a tribal lender as of February of 2014 is $3K. That's it. Not $3,100 or $5,000 or any amount higher than $3K. The tribal lenders probably realized it was in their best interest to keep customers limited in their borrowings. The firms could still rake in a ton of profits from the high interest and at the same time they limit their exposure to any given customer that defaults on their loan.
Who are the lenders that are pushing out these $3K loans?
Plain Green Loans is the biggest company out there right now. They also have the best interest rates when compared to the other tribal lenders, and in fact they have rates that are better than some state licensed loan shops.
Another company that is willing to loan up to $3,000 is Great Plains Lending. The problem with this firm is that they do charge more than Plain Green.
A close runner up to the tribal $3K loan is a company called Clear Creek Lending. This outfit will lend up to $2,500 to an individual, but they might be a little stingy getting up to the $2,500 level.
That's it. Most of the tribal lenders are interested in pushing out $300 and $500 worthless payday loans that don't help anyone, or at least help very few people. WHat good is $300 going to do you when you get it for 14 days? It's pointless. It just doesn't even feel like a loan, these companies shouldn't even use that word when describing their products.
So your 'high level' tribal lending options, since the demise of Western Sky, will be Plain Green Loans, Great Plains Lending and Clear Creek Lending, in that order. Beyond those three firms the loan amounts drop significantly. For example, Spotloan will max out their individual loans at $800. It's not easy finding credit these days and now it's true for Native American loan companies as well.
Recent Comments