Native American Tribes--lawless?

High Country Ventures, LLC dba Impact Cash USA. They are under investigation by the BBB and by the F.B.I.



On July 10, 2009 the BBB confirmed with the FBI that complaints are accepted and concerns addressed through the government web site, www.ic3.gov for internet business transactions. This includes companies operating from Native American tribal land.

i have been curious about them lately, too as many other posts mention this.
i do not fully understand, and i seem to keep asking the same question over and over again. can they legally lend to residents of states that prohibited them? can they be licensed? how does it affect the borrowers? are there laws they can break, such as not giving contracts, harrassment?

Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! So do you think that we can list the ic3.gov in any of our correspondence with these Native American companies?

thanks for that info

bea2ls,

Good points you raised. I want to know this too. For now, maybe I can keep some of them at by filing complaints with the IC3.

i agree, i just still do not understand if they can lend to states that prohibit them. or on a more personal level, what i can do to stop them from harrassing me with endless phone calls? :(
i am going to file complaints with the IC3 though, i will see what happens.

There is nothing much you can do about the phone calls. If they are lending to unauthorized states then they most definately are not going to honor your C/D request.

Best thing would be to change your number or get an caller ID to screen your calls :?

thanks, abyss - this is the same company you helped me with about a month ago - the one i first assumed was an old payday loan.. turned out it wasn't, they tried to collect money on a loan i never applied for and my bank refused. are they even legal for my state?

How you been beal?? Is everything ok?

Whats the name of the company??

hey! thanks for asking :) everything else has been fine, these jerks are my only collector-related issue :) how are you?

I am good just getting back into the forum after a couple months off. :)

thanks, this is star cash processing.. i think they might be one of the tribal companies but this was not confirmed 100%. but loans are prohibited in my state.
my bank automatically reversed this loan so i know i am not responsible for anything but i am trying to find out as much as i can and have no idea what they can legally do to anyone.

I would like to make a statement about tribal laws and payday lenders. In my opinion, just using logic and common sense tells me even though they are exempt from non-tribal laws, in order to prosecute an individual who acquired a payday loan from them via the Internet, they would need to step into one of "our" courts which would then trump thier tribal law, and vice versa. I'm not sure if I read that somewhere or I am making an attempt to be logical, but anyways, that's my two cents worth. It's something worth looking into and is exactly what I intend on doing. Bye. :)

Star Cash is Illegal. They are MTE/MNE affiliates. Either one is Illegal in just about every state besides their tribal immunity grounds homestate. If you reversed the loan then you have nothing to worry about. Just keep hard copies of the bank transaction and coressponding email communication with these idiots! :lol:

You will be fine :wink:

thanks! i just wanted to beef up my arguments.. i refuse to speak to them on the phone but i did send a certified letter and i did report them, though i am likely going to report them some more. i do not know why i let them get to me.

bea2ls,

If Cool Abyss is correct and Star Cash Processing is MTE/MNE affiliates this may be of some help to you:

500 FashCash, Cash Advance Network, Instant Cash USA, MTE Financial

Business Contact and Profile
Name: 500 FastCash
Phone: (888) 919-6669
Fax: (800) 416-1619
Address: 515 G St. SE
Miami, OK 74354

Website: 500fastcash.com

Employees: 10
File Open Date: May 2007
TOB Classification: Loans
BBB Accreditation: This company is not a BBB Accredited business.

500 FastCash is located at the same address as MTE Financial Services, Cash Advance Network, & Instant Cash USA. A subsequent BBB investigation determined that this address is the address for a Gambling establishment and Smoke Shop operated by the Modoc Indian Tribe. During its investigation of these companies, BBB employees visited the locations as well as sent a certified letter to the Chief of the Tribe asking for further information regarding these companies. Employees of the smoke shop and/or gambling establishment informed a BBB employee that they were unaware of any details regarding these companies. BBB has not received a response from the Chief concerning this matter. At the present time, BBB does not know if these companies are operated by the Tribe, by employees or other people using the Tribe's addresses, or is a joint venture between the Tribe and a for-profit company.

The complaints against this company and others located at the same address generally allege the inability to pay off the requested loan, charges to the consumer's checking or credit card account despite never receiving the requested loan, or continued unauthorized charges to the consumer's credit card or checking account once the loan has been paid off.

BBB has determined that this company is not licensed in the state of Oklahoma to provide loans to consumers and does not appeare to be licensed in any of the states from which consumers have filed complaints with BBB. However, if those Tribe actually operates this business, it may not be subject to state laws regulating this industry.

BBB encourages all consumers seeking loans of any kind to research all of their options before providing any private financial information or signing any loan papers. Consumers should check with the BBB on the company's grade, their complaint volume, and whether or not the company is licensed or regulated to provide the type of loan services the customer is seeking.

I know you have probably seen this in another of my posts but this one names MTE Financial Directly.

thanks for the info :)
i keep getting mixed information - some say they are legal because of the tribal thing, but most people say they are legal. this is so confusing :(

BBB has determined that this company is not licensed in the state of Oklahoma to provide loans to consumers and does not appeare to be licensed in any of the states from which consumers have filed complaints with BBB.

ok here is my thoughts....Why would the BBB be checking on the licensing if they did not need to be licensed due to being a Native American Tribe. Surely the BBB would know if they needed to be licensed or not. By them (BBB) checking I would say YES they do need to be licensed.

Just because some of these lenders are under the jurisdiction of tribal law doesn't mean these loans are legal to the residents of whatever state they are lending money. We (as in non-tribal people) aren't bound by the tribal laws nor can we be tried by tribal laws for a debt. I am pretty sure what I am saying is correct, I have been researching and so far have not found anything that states a tribal laws prevails over a residents state law.

Shazzers is 100% correct. I have the posting clarifying all the Tribal immunity laws somewhere. Will do some digging and post it later :wink:

thanks, i think i remember which one you are referring to cool abyss, is it the one that ended up being locked?
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/paydayloan/mtefinancial-company.html

i did a search and read over the whole thread but was a little confused because some posters hinted that they might be able to over-ride state laws. also i was not sure if anything new happened between now and than.

That IS a bit confusing. However - as far as overriding State laws; for instance, I live in MD. If MD says PDLs are required to have a license in Maryland and the PDL doesn't have such a license, how would they be able to override MY States' laws? I guess what I'm thinking is, if they could override a States' law on PDL's, what's to stop unscrupulous people from "renting a tribe" (as described in the other thread) and breaking all KINDS of laws? Somehow I personally can't see where it would ever come to the point where they could override laws which have been implemented outside of tribal lands.

I'd received a call from United Cash loans a while back and when I asked them about MNE and how everything was going down on the reservation, THEY hung up on ME! ;)

Pachacutec - that is what i was thinking!! I did not see the logic that they could over-ride state laws.. would that mean they could get away with breaking other laws?
However I did see it mentioned so was confused.. I know, for example, my state prohibits all payday loans, so I do not see how someone could give us one, period.

These people will tell you that YOUR State doesn't know what they're talking about, at least that's the line UCL has given me. Needless to say, my contact at the State Financial Regulatory agency finds that very funny! And even though PDL's are illegal here, for a while UCL had a "customer testimonial" from someone in my State prominently displayed on their website; to me, that's very misleading, implying that they ARE in fact legal here when they're not.

i have seen those testimonials in the past! the whole thing is misleading and rather disturbing, actually.

It certainly is; while they might not actually be SAYING that they're legal in a particular State on their website, when they show "testimonials" from a particular area, they're more or less implying they're legal there.