There's this lending agency which also functions as a cooperative in my local community. First, you open an account and deposit a certain amount with them then after a month you can start borrowing money up to double the value of the amount you deposited as a maximum. Payment term can be up to 18 months. Then after you pay your first borrowed sum you can then borrow up to triple your deposited amount. While you borrow, your deposited money also earns dividends each month so it's sort of a savings account in itself. I'm not yet a member but my parents are but I'm planning to join them soon. Do you also have similar lending institutions in your area? What are your experiences with them?
Providing they are run well and the person running it is able to collect the payments on the loans it is a good thing to get into. Just invest a small amount into it. Since they are small loans they can charge a lot more interest on the loans. Probably you should not borrow from them unless it is an emergency because the interest rate is really high.
I won't assume the interest rates are high, but it's definetly something I would look into. Everything else sounds like a good deal though. Thanks for sharing that.
I'd check such a thing (and the people running it) out thoroughly. See how they're registered / regulated, what other activities the company engages in as part of their business, how long they've been around, under what other names, look for any shady histories of any of the principals or board members, etc. If you ultimately decide to invest in such a thing, I'd do it lightly. It just sounds "bubbly" based upon the way you describe it. I have a few bucks in my credit union (they pay very high interest on deposit accounts and offer other perks), but the vast majority of my money is kept in investment and deposit accounts with large financial institutions / banks like Wells Fargo, JPM, and Cap 1.
I believe they have already established their name since they have been continuously growing for more than 30 years now. I really got more interested knowing that my parents have been members for more than 10 years now. But of course I won't spend a big amount of money at first. It's still best to test the waters first before plunging into the rapids right?
