At some point in the near future there will be over 300 Native American lending companies operating online. One company that is helping to close the gap to get to 300 firms is a brand new operation called Rushmore Financial. Unfortunately this isn't exactly the type of tribal lender that we are hoping for when we report about new companies entering the market.
With a quick glance of the Rushmore Financial FAQ page we can learn that this is a new tribal lender, but also a tribal loan company that is a destination point for some of the mergers and acquisitions that have swarmed the industry over the last two years.
Here is what's taken place...
Some older, more established tribal lenders have been acquired (for instance, Black Bear Advance and Clear Creek Loans) and the tribal lenders who have acquired these new assets try to channel the existing clients to a new tribal lending property. And in this case that's where we get Rushmore Financial as this company is (at least partly) designed to handle the overflow from customers of now defunct tribal lenders.
These defunct lenders did not go out of business but they were purchased by the larger (can we say more successful) Native American lenders and then they proceed to try to gently push those former customers into the new loan product offered by Rushmore Financial. This isn't even hidden by the company as they address the issue promptly in their FAQ area on the site.
Not long after you hit the FAQ you will find this statement trying to explain why a new customer, who may have been expecting a larger loan amount of $1,000 to $1,500 is only eligible for a maximum loan amount of $400. See below...
"I thought I could receive $1000 or $1500. Is it possible to receive more than $400 for a first-time advance? If you came to this site via a different site, or applied on a different site, but are funded by Rushmore Financial it is possible that another site advertised a loan up to a certain amount that is higher than what we actually lend to first time borrowers."
The company continues their small loan disclaimer notice as they write the following...
"The advertising you saw may have been from someone who is not a lender, but is just referring applicants to lenders. All lenders have their own lending limits and policies."
Then finally they come up with a potential way to get more money, but the reality is there are very few applicants that qualify for the larger loan amount and when we say "very few" you can read that as anywhere from 1% to 4% of all applicants. See the company try to save a little face by saying...
"It is possible in some cases to receive more money initially, but you may be required to provide us with additional information including, but not limited to a bank statement."
Please spare us, the truth is that most new customers will be looking at a $400 loan as their maximum amount, and some customers will probably be offered a $200 or $300 loan.
This may not seem like a big deal but there is a reason Rushmore is addressing the matter right away on their FAQ. It's because the old (now gone) tribal loan sites like Clear Creek Lending made loans of $1,500 pretty standard in their loan portfolio. It was not that big of a deal for a Clear Creek customer to get $1,500 as an installment loan and even if they didn't qualify for that amount they would land somewhere in the $800 to $1,000 range. But as those prior customers now are coming through to the Rushmore Financial page they are in for a surprise offering amount of $400.
Besides that somewhat interesting arrangement, the main question is whether or not we should borrow from Rushmore Financial if we are in need of a loan? My personal, and very simple answer, is that it's not a great idea. So the answer is a "no" if you need to hear it. There just is not a good reason for me to want to borrow $300 or $400 from a tribal lender when we have a few good companies left that are willing to loan out more money. Plus, there are some other tribal lenders (like Mobiloans and Plain Green Loans) that have substantially lower interest rates than Rushmore.
I just can't find a reason to recommend this firm for your financial needs and/or troubles. I do think their arrangement of funneling old tribal customers through to this relatively newer site that offers a largely different (reduced) loan is pretty interesting though. But for personal consumption, as it becoming a customer, the answer is no thank you.
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