Zocaloans Review- that will be the topic of this article.
Explore the Zocaloans Review of 2022 and consider it alongside the Friends Provident International Premier Advance Savings Plan Review.
Introduction:
Let us first know about some of the important terminology related to today’s article before getting into it. The terminology is provided in order to provide a better understanding of the topic for you.
Loan – The basic concept of loan revolves around two parties namely, Borrower and Lender.
If a borrower borrows some money from a lender assuring to repay that amount back in the future, then that borrowed amount is known as a loan.
In most cases, lenders offer loans to borrowers by charging some additional amount of money known as ‘Interest’. The interest amount will be added to the principal amount borrowed and has to be repaid along with that same principal amount.
Example: For example, let us assume that a person named ‘A’ has borrowed an amount of $1,000 from a person called ‘B’. B agrees to provide a loan to person ‘A’ on the condition that ‘A’ will have to pay an interest of 10% on the principal amount.
Now, ‘A’ will have to pay $1,100 which is the combined amount of the principal amount of $1,000 and the interest amount of $100 (10%) while repaying the loan.
Interest Rates – As discussed earlier, Interest Rate is simply nothing but the rate of interest that is charged to a borrower who obtains a loan and has to be repaid by the borrower along with the principal amount.
Most financial institutions provide loans on the basis of simple interest. However, some might offer loans based on compound interest, which means interest rates will be applied to the previously incurred interest as well.
Usually, Loans that have a low amount of interest rate are known to have a low amount of risk involved. Vice versa, a loan that has a higher interest rate will be considered as a loan involving a higher amount of risk.
In many cases, consumer loans have an Annual Percentage Rate (APR), which will mostly be higher than the nominal interest rate and will not be based on the compound interest.
This APR usually consists of the interest rate along with other types of costs that are associated with borrowing money.
Types of Loans – There are different types of loans, which gain their name based on the purpose of that specific loan.
Some examples of different types of loans include Personal Loan, Home Loan, Car Loan, Business Loan, etc. Loans are usually provided by Banks and other Financial Institutions.
Some loans are provided when the borrower can provide something as collateral for the loan that they want to obtain. An example of a loan that requires collateral is a ‘Mortgage’.
However, some loans won’t even require the borrower to provide collateral such as a credit card or a personal loan. These loans are provided to the customer based on their Credit History.
(Those who might not be familiar with the concept of credit history, please don’t worry… we will get to that in a few moments.)
However, as our topic primarily focuses on the Personal Loan, let us have a look at the definition of personal loan as well.
Personal Loan – Personal Loan is the type of loan that is acquired by a person for his/her personal purposes. In order to get qualified for a personal loan, the lender requires details related to the credit history and income of that respective borrower.
Personal Loans can also be referred to as ‘Signature Loans’ or ‘Unsecured Loans’ as there won’t be a requirement for collateral. Personal Loans are approved by the lender primarily on the basis of a person’s creditworthiness as discussed.
When compared to other types of loans, personal loans are considered to be easy to secure. In most cases, personal loans can be used for things such as renovations of a home or buying something expensive.
People who obtain a personal loan would generally have to repay that loan amount in monthly installments. Personal Loans have a lower interest rate than a credit card, and henceforth, considered to better than a credit card.
If a person has an excellent credit history, they might even be able to acquire a personal loan with an interest rate that is comparatively low (which can even be in single digits).
Personal Loans have fixed interest rates in most cases, therefore, there won’t be any changes in the interest rate after obtaining a personal loan.
There is also a possibility for personal loans to have a variable interest rate, however, it is not popularly practiced.
If a person opts for a personal loan with a variable interest rate, they would have to pay more interest or less interest depending on the direction of the interest rates.
As for the time for repayment, different types of lenders have a different timeframe. Usually, it ranges between one year to five years depending on the amount borrowed and the tenure chosen.
In most cases, personal loans can be paid off early in order to save on the interest that has to be paid.
Types of Personal Loan Providers – There are different types of sources that offer personal loans such as Banks, Credit Unions, Online Lenders, Specialized Lenders, etc.
Credit Score – A Credit Score is a number that lies between 300 – 850, where 300 is the least score and 850 is the highest score. The higher the credit score is, the more the chances that a borrower has to acquire a loan.
A Credit Score is based on the credit history of a person, which is composed of the person’s total accounts, the total number of debts, repayment history, and some other factors.
This credit history will let the lenders have an idea about the ability related to repayment of that specific person. Therefore, people who want to get a loan that has a lower amount of interest should make sure that they have a good credit history.
ZocaLoans:
So… It has been made clear that a person would require a good credit history along with an excellent credit score and a stable source of income for getting a loan with a low-interest rate.
What if, the person has a bad credit history but really needs money as a matter of urgency and is willing to pay whatever the interest rate the lender says. There is a solution for this, where that specific person can obtain a loan from other providers.
Such a provider that offers loans to the people, even though they have a low credit history, is Zoca Loans.
ZocaLoans – ZocaLoans is the online loan provider that is run by ‘Rosebud Sioux Tribe’ that offers installment loans that range between $200 and $1,500. These loans are offered only to customers that are living in the United States with an exception for some states.
The states in which ZocaLoans does not provide loans are:
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Maryland
- New Hampshire
- New York
- Vermont
- South Dakota
- Colorado
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
- Washington, DC
ZocaLoans, as a tribal lender, is not in collaboration with any of the regulations regarding short-term loans. This allows it to have full authority to charge whatever the interest rates and fees that it wants to impose on its customers.
The loan amount ranging between $200 to $1,500 will be credited to the customer on the very same day by going through a simple application process.
But the most important thing to take into consideration is that the interest amount is hefty, and people should think twice before obtaining a loan from ZocaLoans.
Generally, in the case of traditional online lenders, it is mandatory to hold a specific license in all of the states that they operate in the United States. Adding to that, each state has different rules and regulations for providing the loans.
Some of the regulations cover important aspects such as APR rates, origination fees, late payment charges, etc. This makes the traditional lender abide by the general rules and lets the customers have protection against unethical lending.
Anyhow, it should also be considered that even ZocaLoans would have to obey the regulations of the federal government. Therefore, even ZocaLoans have a degree of flexibility regarding fees.
Keeping the high-interest rates aside, there comes a time for most people when they require money and are in desperate need of it. At such time, low credit history may result in the non-availability of loans.
These people can be able to obtain an unsecured emergency loan from Zoca Loans to cope with their desperate needs.
ZocaLoans’s company is headquartered in Mission, South Dakota although they don’t provide loans to the people living in the state of South Dakota.
ZocaLoans is an online-only loan provider, which means a person could only be able to obtain a loan from them online and not in any other physical means.
Interest Rate – The interest rate at ZocaLoans is very high, to be precise, tremendously high. Interest rate is the most important thing to consider, especially when a person is willing to get a loan from ZocaLoans.
The approximate interest charged by ZocaLoans is around 795% APR, which will sound shocking to most customers. But what can we say, desperate times call for desperate measures.
To get you an exact idea about the sample interest rates at ZocaLoans, we are providing a table that depicts the payments and interest. Please notice that all the payments shown below are based on a bi-weekly payment basis.
For $300:
| Payment Series | Principal amount | Interest | Repayment Amount |
| 1. | $3.60 | $94.25 | $99 |
| 2. | $4.75 | $94.25 | $99 |
| 3. | $6.26 | $92.74 | $99 |
| 4. | $8.25 | $90.75 | $99 |
| 5. | $10.87 | $88.13 | $99 |
| 6. | $14.33 | $84.67 | $99 |
| 7. | $18.89 | $80.12 | $99 |
| 8. | $24.89 | $74.11 | $99 |
| 9. | $32.81 | $66.18 | $99 |
| 10. | $43.24 | $55.75 | $99 |
| 11. | $56.99 | $42.00 | $99 |
| 12. | $75.12 | $23.88 | $99 |
Here, we can observe that for a total principal amount of $300 the customer would have to pay an interest of $888 (interest only). Which means the amount that would totally be paid by the customer would be around $1,188.
This is really devastating to hear for many people that a person would have to pay an amount of $1,188 for taking a loan of $300.
The payment schedule will be included in the person’s loan agreement. Therefore, the customer would generally have an idea about the deal that he or she is getting into.
However, to soothe the pain of a very huge interest rate, people can avoid the hefty interest rates by paying the amount prior to the last date of repayment.
Also, the person can make payments between the payment due dates. There won’t be any prepayment penalties for doing so.
The amount of loan will be credited to the person after the application has been processed and approved. If the approval has been done before 8 PM (Central Standard Time) from Monday to Friday, the amount will be funded on the next day.
Fees – If a person fails to make a payment on time, that person will be subjected to an additional fee. There are two types of these additional fees namely, a Late Payment Fee and Non-Sufficient Funds Fee.
If the payment of the person is dishonored regardless of the reason, whether it is insufficient funds or issues with the financial institution, the person will be charged an NSF fee of $25.
We haven’t finished yet, when the person makes a payment after that (which is usually considered late payment), the person will be charged another $25 as late fees.
Eligibility – What’s on the bright side is that the people who are in desperate need of a loan and have a low credit score will be able to get it from ZocaLoans with very minimum requirements.
The eligibility criteria that need to be fulfilled by a customer to get a loan at ZocaLoans are:
- Active Checking Account
- Citizenship or Permanent Residency in the United States
- The Person should be at least 18 years of age (19 for Georgia)
- An ID that has been issued by the state
Because they offer loans to the people who have a bad credit score doesn’t necessarily mean that any person can be able to get a loan from ZocaLoans.
Customers also get a chance to have an initial pre-approval application based on a soft credit pull. This means a person can be able to know before itself whether or not they are eligible.
When a hard credit pull happens, the credit score of the person is slightly impacted but the soft credit pull won’t be able to impact the customer’s credit history.
Application Process – The application process for getting a loan at Zoca Loans is very easy and simple. By gathering all the necessary documents, it won’t take more than 5 – 10 minutes to complete the application process.
- First of all, it is important for the customer to choose the terms of the loan. This means the person who wants to get a loan should get prepared and state how much money they want to get as a loan.
People should remember that they can only be able to get an amount ranging between $200 to $1,500.
- After choosing the terms, the next step is to enter the personal information of the customer. This will generally include details such as name, address, date of birth, residency status, etc.
Along with those, the customer is also required to enter their social security number as well as their driver’s license number.
- Next step is to enter the details related to the income of the customer. There is no minimum requirement for employment or income at Zoca Loans, but the customer still needs to enter their employment status.
These details generally consist of the profession of that specific customer and their income after all the taxes.
- Mostly, after the above-mentioned step, the customer will receive an instant decision about their loan application. In case of approval, the customer will be shown the lending rates at ZocaLoans.
It is very important that the customer should check the loan terms again before they could proceed with the procedure. It is better to take a look at the APR rates, fees, etc.
- After that, ZocaLoans requires the customers to submit their banking details such as the details related to their checking account, debit card number, etc.
- Finally, the customer would be asked to sign a digital loan agreement with ZocaLoans agreeing to all the terms and conditions.
The customers should also decide whether or not they will be requiring a fast-track transfer process for their funds to be credited. If the person opts for the fast-track process, he or she will be charged an additional $30.
However, in case of not choosing the fast-track transfer of funds, the money will be transferred the very next day without having any additional charges.
Repayment – Coming to the details related to repaying the loan, there is an option for the customer to choose whether they are going to repay the amount on the basis of weekly payments or bi-weekly payments.
Regardless of the option a person chooses, it is best for going with an automatic debit arrangement. Upon that, ZocaLoans will be able to automatically accept repayment from the person’s bank account.
This is generally considered to be the best idea as the person won’t be missing a payment. However, choosing this option will allow the customer to pay a fixed amount of money on a weekly/bi-weekly basis until the loan is repaid.
Just because Zoca Loans does not have a prepayment penalty, the amount can be repaid earlier at no cost to save on the interest.
People should notice the aspect that has been discussed previously not being able to pay in time. This will result in additional fees namely, NSF fees and Late Payment Fees.
Advantages and Disadvantages – Now, let us have a brief look at the pros and cons of Zoca Loans.
Pros:
- People living in 37 states in the United States are able to borrow money from Zoca Loans making it available for many people.
- There is a one-time extension provided by Zoca Loans as a complimentary service to its customers. This means they will get one chance for extending their repayment in case they won’t be able to make the payment on time.
- With the help of the fast-track transfer service offered by Zoca Loans the person can be able to get their funds credited to their account within 15 minutes.
However, this will incur an additional fee of $30 to the customers, which may not be considered to be such a good idea by many people as the funds will be credited for free the very next day.
- Not having specific requirements related to the credit score in order to obtain a loan. This is especially useful for customers who have a bad credit score.
Cons:
- The major drawback of Zoca Loans is the highest interest rate. The interest rate is very high, and the people would have to pay an amount 3 times greater than the principal amount (just as interest).
- Zoca Loans, being a tribal lender, has no cap on the APRs that can be charged by them.
- Zoca Loans may collect the repayment from any other bank accounts that are under the borrower’s name.
These account details will be collected by Zoca Loans during the information collection process, even if the customer hasn’t included those details in the application.
- Most people gave negative reviews on the services that have been obtained by them from Zoca Loans. These reviews were given specifically based on the customer service and the mismanaged repayments.
- The amount that can be lent ranges between $200 and $1,500, therefore, it may not be beneficial for the people who want to obtain a higher loan on an urgent basis.
- Late Payment Fees of $25 and NSF fees of $25 make it a little bit disadvantageous to the customers.
Safety – Like all online lenders, Zoca Loans also ensures its customers that their information stays confidential and secure. This is made possible by encrypting the person’s details while entering on the online application.
People can also get to know about the parties that have access to the information by reading the privacy policy.
Final Verdict:
There are some other alternative options to Zoca Loans such as Advance America and Earnin. These can be chosen by the customer if they are not willing to get a loan from Zoca Loans.
Before you consider getting a short-term loan, it is better to check any other possible alternatives such as payday loans, installment loans, etc.
Always make sure that there is no other alternative except for choosing to get a loan from Zoca Loans. We are saying this due to the highest interest rates they charge to their customers.
The only best thing is that the money could be obtained by people having a bad credit score, but it should be noticed there are more disadvantages rather than advantages.
If a person has some funds set aside for emergency purposes, they wouldn’t have to get loans for such high-interest rates. Therefore, it is better to save some money rather than choosing this type of alternative method.
If you require personal financial advice or expert wealth management services, please feel free to make use of the services offered by us. You can contact us to get a quote for the expert services that we offer to our clients.
That being said, we hope that you were able to find the relevant information in this article that you have been looking for. Also, we wish for you to have a bright career while gaining huge profits from all your assets.
