My Quick Funds is the latest tribal lending company to arrive in the online loan marketplace. The company shares a lot with other Native American lenders but they do have a few things that make them a touch different.
The first, and most obvious, is the apparent flexibility the firm has when it comes to the interest rate that it charges customers. My Quick Funds has the standard FAQ area on their but what is not standard by any means is the fact that their interest rate has the term "usually" associated with it. The interest rate that this lender has, just like so many other tribal payday lenders, is 30% for a rolling two week time frame. Not a big deal, nothing surprising there. But here is the weird thing, the company talks about how this is usually the interest rate applied to the loan.
Here is exactly what the company website says:
"What is the finance fee? Usually 30% of the principal."
Then their site also says the following:
"The finance fee is typically 30% of the principal loan amount."
Alright, so this is interesting. To me this is an open invitation to negotiate for a better interest rate. And why not, they are clearly stating here that it's not always going to be that mandatory 30% rate like so many other tribal loan shops. The ability to get a lower rate makes My Quick Funds a little more interesting than most other bland Native American paycheck lenders, which now easily number of 100 companies.
How much should you try to get to pay? If you've got decent credit and/or a decent job you've been at more than a year why not shoot for 15% interest? The fact is that the 30% rate has been too high for too long and there really is no reason for these excessive rates.
Try to get 15% or perhaps 20% for this basic loan. If My Quick Funds says 'no' to your request then just tell them you're going another tribal payday lender like Minute Funds which is more established and more widely known. Or better yet, tell them you've found a Native American lender called Mobiloans which will only charge 10% for every two weeks you have funds outstanding.
Don't be afraid to put some pressure on these tribal lenders because these days there are so many of them and they have to compete against each other for a somewhat limited number of customers. That means that the tribes will have to try to get customers to pay attention to them and if you apply and get approved with a lender like My Quick Funds the truth is they won't want to let you walk away so even if they don't make it obvious you are sitting pretty.
They need you more than you need them, and that's factually correct because they are only getting so many loan applications per day while you (the consumer) have over 100 tribal lenders to choose from when you are shopping for an online loan.
What else is different about My Quick Funds? Not much. They tend to offer their applicants a $500 loan but that can be extended to $1,000 for returning customers or customers with excellent income.
The rest is about the same, too. The company says that the loans are for emergency situations, what a shock. They talk about using the ACH or EFT methods of depositing your cash and deducting the repayments from your checking account. The company website seems secure enough but they could put more information about their web security and encryption somewhere, it wouldn't hurt to reassure us.
There is one more odd thing. My Quick Funds is open everyday, they have customer service members on call both on Saturday and Sunday which is quite different from most tribal lenders that close up shop on Friday night, and might have a few limited hours on Saturday. As far as the "quick" part of My Quick Funds, don't fall for that.
This company has the same time frame as most other tribal lenders, where you can be approved and the funds will be sent, but they won't appear in your checking account until the next business day. This firm doesn't have a special method or capability to be any faster than the other Native American lenders.
All in all this isn't a terrible lender, and the open possibility of negotiating for a better interest rate is somewhat intriguing. However, don't forget there are better tribal loan companies out there, at least with published rates that are superior to My Quick Funds. Companies like Plain Green Loans and Mobiloans offer lower rates than 30% on a two week rolling basis. In the end it comes down to competition and My Quick Funds just has to see that there are other (very similar) companies offering better terms for the same type of loans.
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