Your are considering a payday loan and wondering Ascend loan reviews, and what are the interest rates. Unfortunately, with pay day loans, you need the money now, so you may feel that there are no viable alternatives or those alternatives may cost too much.
We understand how the payday loan industry works and what to look out for, so let's first jump into Ascend loan reviews.
Let's begin.
Firstly, you may want to understand that there is two Ascend loan websites: Ascendloans.com and Ascendloan.com. Something else you may not realize is there are actually two Ascend loan companies to consider.
We will spend more of our time on Ascendloans.com as that appears to have a bigger online presence.
Ascendloans.com is an online lender. They claim to have broader and more accessible loan options, as well as ”user-friendly” payback plans. Not only this, but Ascend has resources on their site that can help the borrower better budget their monthly expenses. Based on their website, this Ascend only offers personal loans up to $1,000.
The second Ascend Consumer Finance (Ascendloan.com) is similar to the one above. This company is mostly online. They believe that credit scores aren’t the best indicators of whether or not someone is a viable borrower. In fact, once you have your loan, the more you prove you can keep up with your payments, the lower your interest rate may go. This website does not list any loan amounts outright on their website. It appears that they also only offer personal loans.
It was surprisingly difficult to find any online reviews of Ascend Loans. Let's cover what we found.
While, I could not find a direct link to Ascend loans website, I was able to find that Ascend Loans BBB reviews based on an address match. From this, I found that Ascend loans has a 1 star out of 5 reviews, with a C+ BBB rating. The BBB site also shows that this company is not accredited.
It also shows that the company has 14 complaints in the last 12 months.
Let's cover another review site.
We did eventually find one site that reviewed the company, however, there were only three user reviews. Overall, from the three reviews, Ascend Loans scored a 2.3 out of 5 stars.
The one five-star review claimed that Ascend was incredibly easy to work with. They also said that they would return any time they needed a “fast cash” loan. The two one-star reviews claimed that the company denied or ignored their applications after sending in their personal information.
The lack of reviews online can mean a few things. The first thing it could mean is that Ascend is a brand new company. The second thing it could mean is that Ascend is not good at asking customers to give them online reviews. And lastly, it could just mean that no one is exceptionally satisfied or displeased enough to leave any online reviews.
Ascend Consumer Finance Loans are similarly enigmatic. It appears as though you cannot apply for a loan unless you are first sent an offer code. Their website does not offer much information on their process and offers even less maneuverability. According to their Credit Criteria, you must be over 18 years old, have a bank account that is over 3 months old, and verifiable income of more than $35,000. You must also have a credit score of 580 and no delinquencies in the past three months.
Similar to Ascend Loans, Ascend Consumer Finance does not have a large review footprint. In fact, their BBB Page contains a resounding 0 reviews. While the BBB page does list that there were 5 complaints filed, they were all marked as resolved and no longer listed on the site.
It is important to note that Ascend Consumer Finance has an “D- on BBB.
Ascend Loan Company is owned and operated by the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Tribe. This tribe is located in California but offers services nationwide. There is a review that claims you can only borrow from Ascend if you are from California. However, Ascend’s website says they are open to lending to anyone, regardless of their location. Despite this, they also reserve the right to withhold lending based on location.
Loans from Ascend range from $300 to $1,000. Ascend claims that they are willing to lend to individuals with bad credit and even no credit at all. While they will run a credit check with a specialized credit bureau, they do not run the credit check through one of the major three credit bureaus. Not only could this potentially keep your credit score from being harmed by a check, but it also means that your credit score may not matter as much when deciding how much to loan. In fact, the only major factor they consider when deciding how much to lend is your income amount.
While the normal APR (Annual Percentage Rate) for a payday or personal loan can sit somewhere around 400%, Ascend Loan Company’s APR for a $500 loan that is paid off in bi-weekly installments is between 700-725% — significantly more than others.
If you sign up for auto-payments, Ascend may offer an APR discount.
That said, if you have to get a payday loan, it can be helpful to compare interest rates from multiple providers.
We built a free debt cost calculator to help you estimate how much a payday loan will actually cost you. It takes a couple of minutes and should help you estimate the total cost.
It's hard for me to understand more about Ascend loans.
For example, I could only find two reviews on SuperMoney that provided a positive experience with an Ascend loan.
This brings us to the next question whether you should get an Ascend loan.
Getting an Ascend loan is ultimately your decision, and you understand your finances probably better than anyone
We speak with so many individuals that got a bad credit loan that now were looking at bankruptcy because they could not longer afford any of their debt obligations.
As such, we built the following debt resolution options and cost calculator to help you estimate your different debt resolution options such as debt management, debt payoff planning, debt settlement and bankruptcy.
Payday loans can force you into financial hardship because of the interest rates for a loan. For example, a 400% interest rate means that you will be paying much more than the principal of the loan. Because Ascend Loans has an APR of 725%, this can be even more dangerous. If you take out a $500 pay-day loan, there is a chance you pay thousands of dollars to pay off the loan. So, if you have to take out a payday loan, is there a way to protect yourself from the possibility of bankruptcy? Aside from doing everything you can to stay away from payday loans, here are a few other ideas.
You may be in a position where you don't see any alternatives to a payday loan as you need the money today!
Consider the following options:
Because payday loans carry such high interest rates, you may consider looking through what you own and seeing whether you can sell anything quickly to make some cash. For example, you could have some electronics such as an old iPhone or something that you could sell quickly either at a shop or online.
Many people think that a side hustle may take a while before you actually get paid. That's not necessarily true. You can utilize side hustles such as temporary work to get cash the same day. We are building a side hustle calculator, so please consider reaching out to us if you're interested to take that.
You may consider looking at your income and expenses and seeing whether you can cut expenses immediately. For example, I recently changed my phone carrier to another carrier and went from 2 Gb per month to unlimited, and saved $40 per month. The challenge with this may be that your phone though is on a payment plan as well, meaning that you can't just change carriers.
With debt negotiation, your accounts go behind, but would your accounts eventually go out behind from a payday loan?
If your goal for a payday loan is to pay off a debt that is becoming delinquent, then consider debt settlement. Again, this can be done by yourself or with the help of a company. The goal of debt settlement is negotiating a lower payment that will rectify your account — meaning the account will be seen as fully paid off, even though you paid a lower amount. This can help you get out of debt faster without taking out another loan.
If you are fully unable to make ends meet, bankruptcy may be a viable option for you. There are a couple of different options to consider (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13) depending on your situation. Filing for bankruptcy can stop any actions taken against you (lawsuit, wage garnishment, etc.) and can help you get back on top of your finances.
The bottom line is this: you have to decide for yourself whether an Ascend Loan is worth it. While fast cash can be helpful in an emergency, it can also set you up for a headache later on down the road. If you can take the hit of an additional monthly payment, it could be worth it if you find yourself in a pinch. However, if you are already struggling to keep up with the payments you have, then taking out a loan from Ascend could push you over into a financial situation you don’t want to be in. If you would like to talk to someone about your option, give us a call at 833-272-3631. We love to give unbiased advice that can help you make the absolute best decision you can for what you are going through.
