Red Leaf Lending is a continuation of the program to roll out the Go Loan branded lending product. Since 2013 we have been watching the "Go Loan!" brand being spread across a number of Native American lending website properties. The question is whether or not these are separate lending companies all participating in this same product? Or at these all co-owned websites that are just being used by a single company to distribute (to market essentially) the "Go Loan!" brand?
Of course there is a decent chance you couldn't care less which is true because you are just interested in getting a loan, right?
If that's the case then the real question is whether you should take a loan from Red Leaf Lending or if you should pass on that 'opportunity' to work with another tribal lender? And my personal opinion is that you should move along from Red Leaf.
The main problem with the Red Leaf Lending product, the now famous Go Loan which is offered by at least a dozen sites, is that it is a fancy package for a good old tribal payday loan, which we all know at this point are actually not that good.
Red Leaf makes their program sound nice and simple. When describing their own loan product they list all of your options after you take out the loan. However, it's not as though these options are special or unique at all; instead they are the exact same format that is used by well over 100 Native American lenders and frankly by thousands of short-term lending companies across the country. In the end a payday loan is just a payday loan.
The company says you can "pay in full on the due date" which means if you have the money you can repay your payday loan (Go Loan) in total at the end of the 14 plus days you have had the loan. This will entail having 100% of the original amount borrowed plus the 30% interest on that loan. So if you borrowed $300 you will have to repay $390 on the due date.
The next option is no surprise. The firm indicates you can "pay only the finance fee" which is secretly what most tribal lenders are hoping that their customers do. Of course they will never admit that to you, but think about how to best maximize profits if you were the one issuing these loans. If a customer keeps rolling over the loan (which is how you can translate the 'paying only the finance fee' statement) then each time they only pay that finance charge the customer is just creating pure profit.
The Go Loan! product is just not anything that I can personally say I would use. Why not? It's simple, there are many other tribal lenders (which have easy application terms that are just as hassle free to get approved for, and maybe even easier than the application with Red Leaf Lending) that are willing to provide a better loan. If you have two choices for the same amount of money why would you opt for the version that costs you more money? You wouldn't do that when shopping for similar products in the grocery store or the mall, so why would you select a higher cost loan for an equivalent dollar value when you could save money? The answer is you should not. And that's where the reasoning (and the potential recommendation) for Red Leaf Lending fly out the window.
There are some Native American lenders who I do like. If you are insistent on getting a payday loan then look at a company called Radiant Cash (sometimes found as RadiantCash) which is a tribal lender that provides progressively lower interest rates with each new loan you take out with them. There is a nice reward system in place and they are very honest about the interest rates they charge.
Another good option is Mobiloans which is a firm that focuses on providing lines of credit. They have an excellent loan product which only charges 10% in bi-weekly payments (assuming you borrow at least $500) and they are incredibly flexible when it comes to their lending terms, specifically the start of the line of credit. The only drawback concerning Mobiloans is that they are pretty limited in the number of states they service, it's down to about 30 some states.
If you are looking for a really flexible company (in terms of repayment) then take a look at a lender called Spotloan. If you get a loan through this firm then you will work with a personal loan representative, not just the bland customer service 800 number you are typically stuck with. Your loan rep can set-up a new loan with the exact terms you want and that includes pushing out the initial start date of the repayments, which I know from firsthand experience can be beneficial to some customers who are in financial trouble.
These are just some of the Native American lenders that are superior to Red Leaf Lending. The main problem with Red Leaf is that they are not creative in what they offer for their loans, they are essentially duplicating the offering of the "Go Loan!" product that we see at many other sites. How does that help us as consumers? I would say that it's not much of a help and I am not very interested in the company.
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