Superior Funding has a truly inviting website along with some quite inviting interest rates and loan terms, including a maximum loan amount of $3,000. When this company resurfaced in 2014 it seemed too good to be true, as we now had an even better version of Plain Green Loans with no limitations as to what state the potential borrower lived in and no issue for how much gross income they had in a given month. Yes, it seemed too good to be true and guess what? It was too good to be true.
Had I done a little deeper digging into the company it would have become evident that these loans (the rates and terms published on their own website) are not for the general public. The "excellent" rates (this is a relative term in an industry that has APR's near 800% or higher) do exist but this company does not offer them to the typical American borrower.
Who does qualify for loans at Superior Funding? The answer is only people who are currently employed by the federal government, and as a subset of that group, United State Postal workers. So for the vast majority of anyone who is curious about Superior Funding please just forget about this lender.
What a stunning disappointment. We had found a (resurrected) tribal lender that was capable of issuing unsecured loans that had a much better interest rate than their counterparts. The amounts available were substantially better than the competition, ranging from 1K to 3K. There were no state restrictions which has become so common today in Native American lending, as the companies try to avoid stress by avoiding the states who have financial bureaus (or state attorneys) trying to stop the loans. We had made it past all the normal barriers and headaches that accompany trying to locate a decent tribal loan.
In the end it was not to be. I'm not an employee of the federal government and unless you are the 2% of people that fall into this category then you are not either. And that means Superior Funding is worthless to you. Let me give a big "thank you" to both "Michele" and to "Red Dragon" for finding this information and relating back to this site. The input from readers is always meaningful and in this instance it helped even more than usual.
Now we can look back at this mysterious hiatus that Superior Funding took, which ranged from somewhere in 2013 to 2014. Instead of reorganizing an installment lender that could serve everyone (who has a job at least) the company came back with this odd lending program targeting just USPS workers and other federal workers. While it's nice for those who can qualify for this improved loan it does nothing to help the regular would-be borrower looking for some decent form of debt in a landscape riddled with wretched options.
I remember encountering a similar situation back with a non-tribal lender that was focused only on lending to people currently in the U.S. Armed Forces. Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to federal workers or people in the military getting 'better' loan options (they are still expensive historically speaking thus the quotes) but what about everybody else in our society? Doesn't the guy who works at the pizza shop or the auto mechanic deserve a loan that won't put them into a financial tailspin?
Why should the federal workers get favorable treatment over other people? Just because the federal government (and postal workers and armed forces, all components of the U.S. Government) have the clout and pull to make unsecured lenders bow to providing lower rates (which are undoubtedly mandated by Congress) it is not fair that the rest of us have to pay 780% APR for a short-term loan.
It is obvious why so many tribal lenders preclude active U.S. military personnel from applying for or qualifying for a tribal loan, it is due to the fact that the lender would have to have two sets of interest rates. The lower rate is for active military people and then the much higher rates are for everyone else. It would be too vulgar and obvious for the rest of the customers who could not get the reasonable rate. Instead a few tribal lenders appear (like Superior Funding) that decide to specialize in lending to these federally mandated groups.
Just as fast as we thought we found something good we have lost it just as quickly. Superior Funding looks great until you get to the fine print and then you find out the company has nothing for you. If you work for the federal government or the post office I can't recommend Superior Funding enough. If you are like most people we will have to keep on looking for better options. Stick with Mobiloans or Plain Green Loans if you live in a state that allows those loans to move ahead.
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