Statement by Lance Gumbs, Executive Director of the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA), in response to comments made by elected officials in the State of Connecticut:
“The Native American e-commerce lending businesses which are members of NAFSA are legal, licensed, and regulated businesses that follow all applicable federal laws and operate under sovereign tribal law.
I want to be clear that NAFSA absolutely and unequivocally opposes any attempt by a state government to encroach on a federally-recognized tribe’s sovereign right to operate these businesses in accordance with their own tribal laws.
NAFSA stands with the Otoe-Missouria tribe and all other federally-recognized NAFSA member tribes in their endeavors to provide legal, federally-regulated online lending services.
I want to state for the record that the Otoe-Missouria Tribe was not engaged in any way with the ‘Native Kids First’ campaign or any other campaign attacking the governor of Connecticut—as some have alleged. Instead of respecting the sovereign government of the Otoe-Missouria and interacting with the tribe as the separate, federally-recognized government it is, the State of Connecticut has resorted to pitting tribe against tribe. Frankly, this behavior by state government is shameful.
Consumer protections and a model lending code are the pillars of the business model NAFSA represents.
Contrary to charges by some Connecticut lawmakers, NAFSA members do not engage in predatory lending of any kind. Installment loans offered by NAFSA lending entities cannot be ‘rolled over’ or renewed to cover the costs of new loans the way payday loans can; installment loans offer penalty-free prepayment at any time, which payday loans do not; and the APR of installment loans is typically lower than those available with payday loans, among many other substantive differences.
Further, NAFSA members would never under any circumstances “prey on our men and women in uniform,” as some other individuals have suggested. In fact, NAFSA members voluntarily complied with the Military Lending Act. The implication that the Otoe-Missouria—or any other tribe—would seek to take advantage of our men and women in uniform is both outrageous and insulting.
NAFSA is confident that we can demonstrate that our organization is different from lenders that take a problematic, unregulated approach to doing business.
At NAFSA we strive to promote responsible financial services for the benefit of economic opportunity in Indian Country. For hundreds of years, our people have fought for our right to self-determination and the power to enact our own laws and be governed by them. Tribes continue to fight to protect their rights today, particularly in this new, uncharted e-commerce frontier. Be it in Connecticut or anywhere else, NAFSA is committed to fighting for the rights of federally-recognized tribes to thrive in the consumer finance industry.”
