One of the most basic tribal lenders is Sure Cash Xtra, or as they like to refer to themselves SureCashXtra, all one big long word. This lender has the most simple program available for online loans. And there loan limits are the biggest joke in the world of online. The most money Sure Cash Xtra is willing to loan is $200. This is not even the minimum for some lenders and for Sure Cash Xtra this is as high as they are willing to go. Stunning, what a simple and nearly useless lender.
When a customer first visits the SureCashXtra website they are confronted with a ridiculous little green monster guy, who invites you to take out a loan. The fact that the high end of the loan amount is only $200 is just a real problem. I can understand from the perspective of SureCash, since they want to limit their exposure to any one customer. But they almost are not a lender with this low amount.
On the good side of things, the interest rate is the lowest one out there when compared to the other tribal lenders. Sure Cash Xtra charges 16% for every pay period the borrower has the loan extended. This is a really nice rate, because a loan for $200 will only cost $32 in finance charges.
There is some chatter on the web about this company becoming a prepaid debit card service. That wouldn't suprise me too much because a lender that limits their loans to only $200 is in some kind of trouble. Either they don't have funds to lend or they are really worried about losing what money they have. Another possibility is that they simply are hoping to get a few customers roped into paying that $32 fee every other Friday. But really none of those scenarios make much sense.
I believe we will see this SureCashXtra either fade out or completely change into another type of financial company, most likely that of a prepaid debit card type of service, similar to the plethora of cards that are out there from companies ranging from Visa to Amex and dozens of other providers. The interesting thing question is this, are there any other tribal lending companies that have prepaid debit card services? I don't know of any if there are, this is something we might see more of in the near future.
No matter which way this company decides to go there can hardly be any reccommendation to use their service. By offering only $200 as a base loan product (and as a maximum) the company has no real value to anyone looking for a loan.
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