Here's an appealing name for the newest tribal lender, it's Loan At Last. All the exasperated potential borrowers out there can finally rest at ease, because now you can get a loan at last through...Loan At Last. Get it? Here's another question, do you think it really works out like this in real life, where Loan At Last is the online borrowing salvation?
There are hundreds of tribal lenders at this point so it might be just a little misleading to say that Loan At Last is going to be "wow I finally got approved for a Native American loan" moment that the name of the company seems to indicate.
If you are skeptical then you should be, since Loan At Last is very similar to other tribal lenders in that they want to provide their customers with small dollar loans that range from $300 to $500 and don't be surprised if the company is not too thrilled about doing much over $400 for a first time customer. Officially the company claims to offer up to $1,500 per loan but I would be very surprised if most consumers qualified for that high loan level. And I would think the company would be reluctant to offer that much to a new customer.
But let's look a little further into the details of the company...
Just like any of these tribal loan shops the longer they get to know a person, and that is assuming the client is taking out multiple loans and repaying them on time, the better chance there will be some opportunities for a bigger loan. After a few loans and successful repayments then Loan At Last might provide a $1,500 loan.
The length of time that a customer may keep the funds with this loan provider is not firmly established, and I actually like that fact. Sometimes the vague nature of tribal lenders can be annoying but in this case I see it as a good sign. When you visit the FAQ page at the company site and look around for a loan duration period they instead provide a very bland statement that says "we tailor your payment date in relation to your income" which (if true) would be a very welcome development.
This open-ended nature of a time horizon to repay the loan reminds me of Spotloan which is a much more popular tribal loan firm. I worked with Spotloan on a few occasions and each time I was allowed to put together my own time frame for how I felt I could repay. How does this help a consumer? There are a few ways, for starters if a consumer wants to delay the time when they begin to repay anything (not even a dollar) then a company like Spotloan, and potentially Loans At Last, might be an excellent company to work with.
Let's use an example. Pretend that "Mike" wants to borrow $1,000 in an installment loan from Loan At Last but he does not want to make any repayments for the first 26 days of the loan because that's how long his finances are going to be in trouble. This happens with consumers all the time, when they need to 'clear' another pay period before they are in good shape to start repaying on a debt, especially a high interest debt.
In most situations with the majority of tribal lenders Mike is going to be out of luck because 99% of the firms will say that he must begin repaying right away (which will translate to approximately 12 to 16 days after the loan is issued) and the lender will not provide any flexibility in this area.
Instead, the loan agreement is written in stone and it is a very black and white document, any deviation from the (hard) repayment schedule will result in a late payment penalty against the borrower. In this instance Mike would be late at a minimum and with a few high strung lenders he would be in technical default on the debt.
That's why it is so meaningful when a lender offers flexible arrangements for an unsecured loan, especially on the front end of the loan when the customer has the leverage to push for terms that are the best for them. If you need a delay in repaying, or if you need an extended time frame to repay (say going from 12 weeks to 18 weeks) or some other element of the loan that can be changed in your favor from the start, this is all quite valuable to a borrower who is in financial distress. And let's face it, most people who turn to Native American loans are in some degree of financial trouble.
While I tend to be in favor of more established installment lenders (that have tribal affiliations) like Plain Green Loans and Great Plains Lending I have to admit that Loan At Last seems to be a decent company. The real test will be (for those who actually apply to get a loan) just how open and flexible they are with setting up new customers with new loans. Basically it will come down to what the word "flexible" is defined by the firm.
If they are truly able to craft loans so that customers have a good start and have the ability to dictate some terms, then I will say that this is one of the better tribal lenders out there.
Keep watch for future updates on Loan At Last as they are an intriguing Native American lender that may rival the quality of Spotloan, and technically might be a better company as they allow a higher loan limit than the team over at Spotloan. We should have more information on this lender by July of 2015.
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