Glossary · Updated July 2026
Tribal lending glossary
The language of high-cost lending is built to be confusing — "sovereign immunity," "rent-a-tribe," "void loan," "Teletrack." Here is every term that actually affects what you pay and what rights you have, defined plainly and cross-linked to the pages that use it.
A
ACH authorization Your permission for a lender to pull payments from your bank account — which you can revoke. Collections & your rights APR (annual percentage rate) The true yearly cost of a loan, including interest and fees — the number tribal lenders often hide. Cost & rates Arbitration clause A contract term forcing disputes into private tribal arbitration instead of court — increasingly struck down. Legality & courts Arm of the tribe The legal test for whether a lender is genuinely part of the tribe and entitled to its immunity. Tribal lending Automatic stay The court order that freezes all collection the moment you file for bankruptcy — tribal lenders included. Collections & your rights
C
Charge-off When a lender writes a defaulted loan off its books — usually the moment it’s sold to a debt buyer. Collections & your rights Clarity Services An Experian-owned subprime bureau widely used by tribal lenders to underwrite loans. Credit & bureaus Class-action settlement How groups of tribal borrowers have won debt cancellation and refunds — sometimes hundreds of millions. Legality & courts Credit Access Business (CAB) Texas’s broker workaround that lets payday and title loans run at triple-digit APR with no rate cap. Loan products & lenders Credit reporting (furnishing) Whether a lender reports your payments to the bureaus — which decides if a loan can build or only damage credit. Credit & bureaus
D
DataX An Equifax-owned subprime bureau, often paired with Teletrack, that tribal lenders check. Credit & bureaus Debt buyer A company that buys charged-off tribal loans for pennies and tries to collect the full balance. Collections & your rights Deferred presentment The legal name for a payday loan in many state statutes. Legality & courts
E
F
FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) The federal law that limits how third-party collectors can contact you — and what they may never do. Collections & your rights Finance charge The total dollar cost of a loan — every dollar you pay beyond the amount you borrowed. Cost & rates Front-loaded interest A repayment structure where early payments go almost entirely to interest, not principal. Cost & rates
G
L
M
N
O
P
Payday Alternative Loan (PAL) A credit-union small-dollar loan capped at 28% APR — the cheaper option to almost any tribal loan. Loan products & lenders Predatory Loan Prevention Act (PLPA) Illinois’s 2021 law capping all consumer loans at 36% all-in APR and voiding anything above it. Legality & courts
R
Rate exportation The argument that a lender can charge its home jurisdiction’s rate to borrowers everywhere. Tribal lending Regulation E / EFTA The federal rule that gives you the right to revoke automatic debits and reverse unauthorized ones. Collections & your rights Rent-a-tribe An arrangement where non-tribal financiers use a tribe’s name and immunity to make high-rate loans they otherwise couldn’t. Tribal lending Rollover Extending a loan you can’t repay for another fee — the mechanism that turns a short loan into long debt. Cost & rates
S
Sovereign immunity The legal doctrine that lets a tribe-owned lender argue it is not bound by state usury laws. Tribal lending Sovereign immunity waiver The narrow situation where a tribe consents to be sued — a rare opening for borrowers. Tribal lending Specialty (alternative) credit bureau The subprime-focused bureaus tribal lenders use instead of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Credit & bureaus Stop-payment order A bank-side instruction to block a lender’s ACH debit — your backstop when a lender ignores a revocation. Collections & your rights
T
Teletrack An alternative "subprime" credit bureau tribal lenders check instead of the major bureaus. Credit & bureaus Title pledge / title pawn The legal wrapper that lets a car-title loan run at ~300% APR in states like Georgia and Alabama. Loan products & lenders Tribal installment loan The dominant tribal product: a fixed-payment loan repaid over months — at 400–800% APR. Loan products & lenders Tribal lending enterprise (TLE) The tribe-owned business entity that operates a tribal lending brand. Tribal lending Tribal-law / choice-of-law clause A contract term saying the loan is governed only by the tribe’s law — which courts have increasingly rejected. Tribal lending True lender doctrine A legal test that looks past the named tribal lender to whoever actually funds and profits from the loan. Tribal lending
U
V
No term matches that search.