Class action lawsuit alleges internet lender violates lending laws and claims tribal immunity
Quick Loan Annual Interest Rates Class Action Snapshot:
- Who: Karen Brown has filed a class action lawsuit against WLCC Lending FDL d/b/a Fast Day Loans and three of its officers.
- Why: Brown says Fast Day Loans charged more annual interest than allowed on loans in the state of Indiana.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in federal court in Indiana.
Fast Day Loans and three of its executives violated Indiana loan laws by charging higher annual interest on loans than is legally allowed.
Plaintiff Karen Brown claims Fast Day Loans devised a scheme to use the internet to make illegal high interest loans while avoiding liability by using the tribal immunity of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Brown says Fast Day Loans charged him an annual interest rate of 700.2% despite the fact that the maximum annual interest charge for consumer loans in Indiana is 36%.
Prior to founding Fast Day Loans, Geneva Lone Hill and Raycen Raines III, the company’s president and board member, respectively, had tried unsuccessfully to get the Oglala Sioux Tribe Economic Development Office to go into business with them, depending on the class action lawsuit.
Although they did not have the partnership of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Brown claims that Hill and Raines then created Fast Day Loans while falsely claiming to be “tribal entities”.
“The actual loan transactions were and continue to be conducted in locations other than tribal lands,” the class action lawsuit states.
No Tribal Members Participate in Day-to-Day Business Operations, Class Action Says
Brown further argues that no tribal member is involved in any of the company’s “day-to-day lending operations,” while other operations not done on tribal lands include “lead generation, marketing, financing, underwriting, processing and collection of payments”.
Even if Fast Day Loans had the support of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Brown says it wouldn’t matter, arguing that “sovereign immunity, even if rightfully invoked, still does not transform an otherwise illegal loan. into a legal loan.
Brown claims that Fast Day Loans and its officers are in violation of the Indiana Uniform Consumer Credit Code and the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Brown wants to represent a class of consumers in Indiana who received a loan from Fast Day Loans with an interest rate above 36%.
He seeks a jury trial and seeks treble damages for herself and all members of the group.
In 2015, the US federal government agreed to pay $940 million to settle claims it did not pay for administrative costs of tribal education, public safety and other services, as promised by the Indian Self-Determination Act.
Have you received a loan from Fast Day Loans that exceeded an annual interest rate of 36%? Let us know in the comments!
Plaintiff is represented by Daniel A. Edelman, Tara L. Goodwin and Matthew J. Goldstein of Edelman Combs Latturner & Goodwin LLC.
The Fast Day Loans Annual Interest Rates Class Action is Brown v. WLCC Lending FDL, et al.Case No. 1:22-cv-00774, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
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