Loan at Last is an online short-term installment lender. The company offers loans to people with poor credit to help them through financial emergencies. However, they are more costly than other loan providers and so they advise that people only use them when absolutely necessary.
They list, for example, “car repairs bills, medical care or essential travel expenses” among the costs that could force someone to apply for a personal loan. In these cases, money is not an object. They take advantage of those in desperate need and charge higher rates than most people are able to afford, especially for those with low funds.
Is Loan At Last Licensed?
The headquarters of Loan at Last is located in Lac du Flambeau (Wisconsin). They don’t hold a license from the state. Loan at Last is a tribal lender. This means that they follow the Native American tribe’s laws and regulations. This is the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Chippewa Indians. It is a Federally Chartered Sovereign American Indian Tribe.
Tribes of Native Americans enjoy a special federal protection they call “tribal immunity.” This means it is almost impossible to sue them. They are often able to engage in business practices that no other lender would allow, including charging interest rates well above the state limit.
Typical Terms of a Loan At Last
Loan at Last does not want to make their terms public. They don’t even disclose their rates on the website. Borrowers cannot find out the details of loans until they apply for and receive a loan agreement. These are the details they will share upfront.
- Principal balances between $100-$3,000
- Customers who are first-time customers will only be eligible for $1,200
- $20 late fee (5 Days after the due date).
- $30 Non-sufficient Funds Fee
There are no Prepayment Fees Loan At Last
Applying for and receiving a loans suck agreement is the only way to understand their interest rates, repayment terms, and payment schedules. It is risky to give personal information to lenders without knowing what they may return. It is better to find a lender that is more open about what they offer.
- Online Reputation
Since at least 2015, Loan at Last is online. There’s a lot of information about the company online. Many Loan at Last reviews pages have customer and expert opinions. Here are the highlights to help you cut down on the time it takes to go through all of them.
- Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a great place to begin researching any company. The BBB does a fantastic job in verifying that the complaints posted on their website are legitimate. The BBB also reviews how businesses handle complaints and gives a rating to the company’s customer support.
The BBB rating for Loan at Last is a B. This is not a bad score but it’s not a great one
They have received more than 100 complaints over the past three years. This is higher than normal. Their rating is still good because they have responded to every single one. Most complaints are about billing or collections, but about one third are about the mortgage loan product.
Crowdsourced Review Sites
Although the BBB website can be a great resource for gaining a basic understanding of a company’s operations, there are often fewer reviews than other crowdsourced review sites. It is worth visiting the other sites.
Trustpilot’s Loan at Last review page is the only one that offers any meaningful insights. Although Trustpilot’s scores are higher than those of the BBB, they can sometimes be less reliable. Businesses have too much control over their profiles and companies can manipulate them to look better.
These are just a few of the reasons Trustpilot doesn’t seem very trustworthy
- Trustpilot can be paid by businesses to prevent negative reviews. Loan at Last is one example of this premium member.
- Companies can increase their score by inviting positive reviews from customers.
- Anybody can leave a review on the site without any verification or filters.
Trustpilot is the preferred review website for tribal lenders. However, there are other ways to see the bigger picture. Filtering reviews by source shows that the average score for organic reviews is lower than for invited views.
- Lawsuits
Before you work with a lender, it is a good idea check if they are involved in any type of lawsuit regarding their business practices. Unfortunately, Loan at last has at least one legal case in the public records.
They are being sued in a class action for outrageous loan rates, just like many tribal lenders. A plaintiff claimed that Loan at Last had charged interest rates close to 700% in 2019, which was much higher than the Pennsylvania legal limit.
- Pros
Borrowing money from tribal lenders is not a wise decision. Loan at Last is an exception to this rule. It’s understandable, however, that so many people would choose to do this. They have perfected their marketing strategy and are able to lure people in using the following:
- An easy online application procedure that is quick and easy to fill out
- Qualifying requirements virtually nonexistent that almost every working adult can meet
- Application and balance transfer applications are processed quickly.
- Flexible principal balances can be used to cover unexpected cash needs
Because Loan at last is very strict about the interest rates they charge, installment loans are a viable alternative to payday loans. It’s usually too late when people realize that the cost is much higher than they anticipated or understand.
- Cons
The downsides of tribal lenders are all present in Loan at Last. These loans are unreasonably costly and many people would be better off with any type of financing, except payday loans. These are the issues with the company.
These lenders offer auto loans to people who are likely to struggle to pay their bills, and then they charge high fees to punish them for not paying.
- They offer rates that are much higher than other lenders who work with people with bad credit.
- It’s nearly impossible to sue tribal lenders for violating the law (which they have proven they are not above)
The loan at last might prove to be more risky than tribal lenders in some ways. It is possible to determine their rates in advance with most of them. Loan at Last will not tell applicants how much their products are (other than “expensive”) unless they have already provided their personal information.
