The five-dimension score
Each reviewed lender gets a 0–10 score built from five weighted dimensions. Because every tribal loan is expensive, the score measures relative harm, not endorsement — a higher number means less bad, never good. Even our top-scoring lender is a last-resort product.
Cost & transparency
The real APR range versus what the lender advertises, whether the rate is disclosed before signing, and origination/NSF/late fees. The biggest single factor — an advertised 35.99% rate that becomes 700% in the agreement scores near zero here.
Terms & flexibility
Loan amounts, term lengths, and whether early payoff is genuinely penalty-free and honored. Simple daily interest and real no-penalty payoff score higher than front-loaded schedules.
Funding speed
How fast approved funds actually arrive, and whether same-day funding carries a surcharge.
Complaint record
BBB rating and 3-year complaint volume, CFPB complaint themes, and the specific patterns borrowers report — unauthorized ACH, phantom deposits, payoff obstruction, aggressive collection.
Legal standing
Litigation history, whether courts have upheld or struck the lender’s arbitration clause, regulator alerts (state DFI/AG), and whether the loans are void in rate-cap states.
What we verify, and against what
We do not reprint marketing copy. For every reviewed lender we check:
- The lender's own rates, terms and FAQ pages — for amounts, disclosed APR, fees and excluded states.
- Court dockets (CourtListener, PACER coverage) — for lawsuit names, case numbers, holdings and settlement terms.
- Regulator records — CFPB and FTC enforcement and complaint data, state attorney-general actions, and state banking/DFI unlicensed-lender alerts.
- BBB and Trustpilot — for ratings, complaint volume and the specific themes borrowers raise (weighed against the well-known gap between solicited Trustpilot reviews and BBB complaints).
- Investigative reporting — outlets such as ProPublica and The Intercept for ownership and operator details the lenders themselves omit.
Where we cannot verify a figure, we write "unknown" rather than guess. Every review lists its primary sources at the bottom.
How we track closures and settlements
We document 28 closed lenders and 115 active ones. A brand moves to Closed when it stops originating and there is a verifiable reason (settlement, enforcement, bankruptcy, rebrand); to Watchlist when it is under active litigation, a regulator consent order, or showing signs of winding down. Settlement figures — debt cancelled, cash funds, claim sites — come from the settlement administrators and court records, and drive our lawsuits tracker and each closed-lender page.
Independence
We are not owned by, and do not take placement fees from, any tribal lender. Our rankings are set by the methodology above, not by who pays. Where an outbound link to a lender or an alternative product is a paid advertiser link, we mark it as such on the page. Read our full editorial standards.