CashCall Must Pay CFPB $134 Million as 12-Year Legal Battle Ends

Subprime lender CashCall was accused of issuing loans under the names of tribal lenders to circumvent state usury caps in the United States. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued in 2013, arguing that the arrangement saddled borrowers with high-interest debt that lacked state-law protections. The case became an important precedent in defining the boundary between financial regulation and tribal sovereignty.

After 12 years of litigation, the US Supreme Court declined to hear CashCall’s appeal, leaving intact a ruling requiring the company to pay $134 million in consumer restitution to the CFPB. CashCall had sought to persuade a judge to overturn the $134 million judgment but failed to change the outcome. The legal dispute that began in 2013 has now formally ended.