An association of online lenders operated by Native American tribes called on banks to resist pressure from New York State to cut them off from the nation’s primary payment system.
The Native American Financial Services Association said the state’s regulators are violating the tribes’ sovereign immunity when they ask banks to prevent them from making and collecting on short-term, high-cost loans via the Internet.
“We want you to be aware that we view these actions as a direct threat to tribal sovereignty and our efforts to develop economic self-sufficiency,” Barry Brandon, the group’s executive director, wrote in a letter to more than 100 banks.
Read the full story here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-08-14/tribal-online-lenders-ask-banks-to-resist-pressure