Many online borrowers complain about internet lending (both the Native American variety and the huge state licensed batch of companies) because these customers are accustomed to getting their money (from their loan) on the same day the loan is initiated.
When you hear this complaint it means that the customer is almost certainly using a brick and mortar loan store (aka the payday loan store in the local strip mall) and when they qualify for the loan the clerk hands them the money, usually between $300 to $800, in cash. As in cash on the spot, no checks to cash or take to a check cashing business, the deal is already completed and the customer has their cash walking back to their car.
That's not how the game is played when it comes to Native American lending. No matter what time of day (even early in the morning) a customer of a tribal lender qualifies for the loan, and no matter what time that tribal lender executes the ACH electronic transaction, the funds will not reflect as being deposited for the customer until the next business day. For many borrowers this doesn't matter, the one day isn't going to make or break their financial situation.
But for a decent sized group of customers, probably at least 20% of all short-term borrowers, this is not an acceptable time frame. For whatever (wholly desperate) reason the customer needs the funds on that same day.
Tribal lenders have never been too good at transacting business on the same day, in fact it's quite rare. A few tribal firms have tried it and not many have succeeded. And most of the tribally-based lending companies simply do not even make the attempt to get the funds into the hands of the customer on the same day the loan is approved. It's just not done.
That is until now, because with the new tribal lender called Loan At Last the company is offering a special same day lending service. They do not explain the mechanics of how they get the funds over to the customer. Loan At Last might be using an EFT (electronic funds transfer) instead of an ACH (automated clearing house) transaction. Or they might be using the bank debit card of that customer, and perform a reverse transaction, which would in effect be a deposit into the customer checking account via the debit card.
Another option might just be the good old Western Union or MoneyGram wire transfer. That seems somewhat unlikely due to the small amount that Loan At Last charges for the service. Charging only a blanket $20 extra same day fee seems to preclude the idea that they are using third party wire services (like MoneyGram) because the cost could be higher than the fee. At the same time this lender may have worked out an agreement between a wire transfer service for a bulk number of transactions and received a much lower rate.
Without giving away the exact details of how they accomplish Loan At Last is one of the very few tribal lenders that is offering a same day loan service. There are some caveats, like the customer must be approved (obviously) and the customer must be approve by noon (Eastern Time) in order to be eligible for the same day deposit service. Also, they must agree to pay the $20 additional charge or the firm will provide the funds on the following business day.
It's about time that a company in the tribal lending industry decided to make an effort to compete with the storefront lending businesses. Just a side note this also means that the tribal lending business (in the form of Loan At Last) is competing against state licensed lenders, because the store-based lenders are all (with very few exceptions) state licensed entities.
If you are in need of same day funds, and you need a smaller amount of money (in the $300 to $400 range) then consider Loan At Last. The interest rates will be in line with the rest of the tribal lenders (which means they are not very good) but at the same time the rates will not be that much more than the high priced state licensed lending companies.
Make sure to apply for your loan early in the day (preferably before 9am Eastern) because you have to make that noon cutoff to be eligible for the money to be sent to you on that same day. Also, as usual, make sure the need is truly important.
If your electric service is about to be stopped due to a lack of payment on your bills, or if you need to get funds into your checking account because you are going to bounce checks that will result in a pile of fees or the closure of your checking account. In these types of situations I would say it's not a bad financial move to get into debt through Loan At Last, but understand this is a tepid recommendation for their otherwise dull loan products.
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