Mountain Summit Financial, yet another new tribal lending company to land on the market, has arrived and is offering the same old thing that 200 plus companies have already brought to the world of online lending. Sorry, was that a drab and uninspired introduction for this new company? It was, and there should be no apologies because what we have here is another lending entity that has decided to be uninvolved when it comes to creativity and ingenuity.
Despite the fact that all tribal lenders have their sovereign status, which means they are essentially free to determine what their lending rates, programs, features, rules and incentives will be surrounding their loans, it turns out that Mountain Summit Financial has chosen to wander down the same old financial road that so many other Native American loan firms have already traveled.
Mountain Summit Financial has a lot of the same offerings that the standard tribal lender has, and quite a few of the same rules as well. First, you have to have an active checking account to get a loan, although in a few instances they do have an allowance for a wire transfer as an option. But it should be noted this comes with a "fee" and the amount of that fee is not mentioned on their website.
This lender has some of the strongest internet security amongst all the tribal lenders. They have the 128 bit encryption so that any information that is sent over the net will be stolen. In addition the actual computer you are using for when you visit their site is being logged because in the top corner of the site the IP address is reflected. This is a message to anyone who is planning on trying anything funny that the computer they're using is being monitored and recorded by Mountain Summit Financial.
It's somewhat odd, and maybe pathetic, that Mountain Summit Financial has gone to all the trouble to make these security arrangements only to offer the same bland loan product that has been rerun so many times before by so many different online lenders.
Just as predicted this lending company wants $30 for every $100 borrowed, and that's on a (roughly) 14 day rolling basis. That means that when you borrow a loan from Mountain Summit you will have approximately 14 days to repay the loan, but many borrowers will not be able to or not want to repay the loan at the end of that short time frame.
If they can't repay then the loan will be rolled over, where the customer will simply pay the finance charge, and the loan will be extended for another 14 calendar days. This is so common amongst paycheck lenders that it's hardly worth nothing, yet this is the core of the Mountain Summit Financial business model so we can't let it go without mentioning the fact.
How much money can an applicant get if they borrow from Mountain Summit Financial? It depends on your status. If you are a new customer then you will only qualify for $300 to $800 and that range is determined by your financial information.
If you have a good job, if you've been at your job for a long time, if your checking account has been open for years or just months, all of those factors will go into the decision as to how much you can borrow.
If you are a returning customer who has already paid off your first loan and you have good standing with the company (meaning you weren't late in repaying the first loan) then you can qualify for a $1,000 loan. The $1K loan is the maximum limit that this lender is willing to go, and you will only be approved for this amount if you are a returning customer and you have good income.
When it's all said and done what do we have here? It's another tribal lender that offers a very basic loan program that's not very inventive and provides little incentive. The 30% charge for every pay period while the loan is outstanding is not a reason I want this loan, and when compared to some of the better Native American lending enterprises out there it shouldn't be the last place any consumer should look at.
It's important to shop around when you're going to go into debt and it shouldn't be done in a hurry. Mountain Summit Financial is a good company when it comes to website security and a user friendly interface, but not such a good company when it comes to the high cost of their loan product.
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