Alternative financial services in the United States refers to a particular type of financial service, namely subprime or near-prime lending by non-bank financial institutions. This branch of the financial services industry is more extensive in the United States than in some other countries, because the major banks in the U.S. are less willing to lend to people with marginal credit ratings than their counterparts in many other countries. Examples of these companies include Springleaf, Duvera Financial, Inc., Lendmark Financial Services, Inc., HSBC Finance, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Monterey Financial Services, Inc. The more generic name "consumer finance" is also used, although more properly this term applies to financing for any type of consumer.
A payday loan is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates.
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of collection, and generally operates outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate actions when seeking to enforce the satisfaction of the debt. As a consistent or repeated illegal business operation or "racket", loansharking is generally associated with organized crime and certain criminal organizations.
Herbert Sandler was a co-CEO of Golden West Financial Corporation and World Savings Bank. He died on June 4, 2019, at the age of 87. Golden West Financial's lending practices had Time magazine include Sandler and his wife Marion in their list of the "25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis".
Credit is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately, but promises either to repay or return those resources at a later date. The resources provided by the first party can be either property, fulfillment of promises, or performances. In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible to a large group of unrelated people.
Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, and a wedding registry.
Prosper Marketplace, Inc. is a San Francisco, California-based financial services company. Prosper Funding LLC, one of its subsidiaries, operates Prosper.com, a website where individuals can request to borrow money, open a credit card, or invest in personal loans.
A line of credit is a credit facility extended by a bank or other financial institution to a government, business or individual customer that enables the customer to draw on the facility when the customer needs funds. A financial institution makes available an amount of credit to a business or consumer during a specified period of time.
A private student loan is a financing option for higher education in the United States that can supplement, but should not replace, federal loans, such as Stafford loans, Perkins loans and PLUS loans. Private loans, which are heavily advertised, do not have the forbearance and deferral options available with federal loans. In contrast with federal subsidized loans, interest accrues while the student is in college, even if repayment does not begin until after graduation. While unsubsidized federal loans do have interest charges while the student is studying, private student loan rates are usually higher, sometimes much higher. Fees vary greatly, and legal cases have reported collection charges reaching 50% of amount of the loan. Since 2011, most private student loans are offered with zero fees, effectively rolling the fees into the interest rates.
A title loan is a type of secured loan where borrowers can use their vehicle title as collateral. Borrowers who get title loans must allow a lender to place a lien on their car title, and temporarily surrender the hard copy of their vehicle title, in exchange for a loan amount. When the loan is repaid, the lien is removed and the car title is returned to its owner. If the borrower defaults on their payments then the lender is liable to repossess the vehicle and sell it to repay the borrowers’ outstanding debt.
American Freedom Mortgage, Inc. (AFM) was a private S Corporation incorporated on February 2, 2001, according to the Georgia Secretary of State, and headquartered in Marietta, Georgia. AFM conducted business as a multi-state direct-to-consumer correspondent lender and mortgage broker specializing in the origination of subprime and Alt-A mortgage loans. AFM also operated a wholesale mortgage lending division that originated loans via approved mortgage brokers and which used the fictitious name AFMI Funding. As a correspondent lender, AFM sold the mortgage loans on the open market to larger investors.
The Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) is a trade association in the United States representing the payday lending industry.
LendingClub is a financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was the first peer-to-peer lender to register its offerings as securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and to offer loan trading on a secondary market. At its height, LendingClub was the world's largest peer-to-peer lending platform. The company reported that $15.98 billion in loans had been originated through its platform up to December 31, 2015.
EZCORP, Inc. is an American pawn shop operator based in Austin, Texas which provides services across the United States and Latin America. It is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange and is the second largest pawn shop operator in the U.S. after Cash America International.
Money Mart Financial Services, formerly Dollar Financial Group, is a financial services company with over 600 locations in Canada and the U.S. The company offers a range of financial services, including installment loan, cash advance/payday loan, check cashing, prepaid card, and money transfer services. It focuses on the underbanked and subprime customer segments. Prior to 2018, the name 'Money Mart' was associated only with the 38-year-old Canadian unit DFG acquired in November 1996.
Payday loans in Australia are part of the small loans market, which was valued at around $400 million a year in the 12 months to June 2014.
Kabbage was an online financial technology company based in Atlanta, Georgia.
TitleMax, Inc. is an American privately owned title lending business with corporate offices in Dallas, Texas and Savannah, Georgia. The company has more than 1,100 stores in sixteen states. TitleMax serves individuals who generally have limited access to consumer credit from banks, thrift institutions, credit card lenders, and other traditional sources of consumer credit. TitleMax offers title loan and title pawn products which allows customers to meet their liquidity needs by borrowing against the value of their vehicles while retaining use of their vehicle during the term of the loan.
William Allan Jones Jr. is an American businessman from Cleveland, Tennessee. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of Check Into Cash, Creditcorp, Jones Management Services and the Community Financial Services Association, and several other local lending agencies. He has been called the "father of the payday loan industry" for founding and building the first major payday loan chain.
LendUp was an American online direct lender. It offered payday loans, installment loans, and credit cards to consumers with low credit scores using publicly available data to assess creditworthiness. The company referred to its customers as “the emerging middle class.” LendUp also issued credit cards in partnership with Tom Steyer's Beneficial State Bank.
US$ 389.4 million (2010) [3]