One case produced real relief for Castle Payday borrowers. Relief in this industry is almost always limited to loans taken inside a specific window, and the settlement sites that would let you check are usually gone. Check the date on your agreement against the case record below.
The $65 million settlement no longer exists
Galloway v. Martorello (E.D. Va. 3:19-cv-00314) would have created a roughly $65 million fund for anyone who took a Big Picture or Castle Payday loan between 22 June 2013 and 1 May 2024. Pages across the web still invite you to claim a share.
The settlement website says otherwise, in plain terms: as of 13 November 2024 the defendants were unable to fund the settlement, so it voided under its own provisions, and one or more defendants have since filed for bankruptcy in the Northern District of Texas.
Funding had been due in October 2024 and was extended by thirty days before it collapsed.
The only remaining route for that class is a claim in the bankruptcy, which means contacting class counsel — not filling in a settlement form.
Treat any site still promoting a $65 million Castle Payday payout as out of date, and treat it as a signal about that site generally. A page that has not noticed a settlement voiding for eighteen months is not maintaining its other facts either.
The settlement that did work — and the term nobody talks about
The earlier Williams settlement, which went to a final approval hearing on 15 December 2020, delivered. Its court-ordered notice confirms it cancelled the loans at issue and made cash payments to class members: $8.7 million across more than 450,000 people.
Three terms did the real work. Collection was capped at 2.5 times original principal. Every loan more than 210 days in default was cancelled and collection ceased. And the defendants were barred from selling, transferring or assigning any interest in charged-off loans or their future proceeds.
That third term is the one worth studying.
The default endgame in this industry is that a dead brand’s balances get sold for pennies and chased for years by a company the borrower has never heard of — it is what happened to Axis Advance’s and Arrow One’s borrowers, and what we tell readers to expect. Here it was contractually prohibited. Castle Payday debts did not resurface, because nobody was allowed to buy them.
The claim deadline for that settlement passed on 10 September 2021.
The cases
Williams v. Big Picture Loans
rulingTribe WON sovereign immunity
A rare pro-lender precedent: the Fourth Circuit held that Big Picture Loans and Ascension Technologies are "arms of the tribe" (Lac Vieux Desert Band) and entitled to sovereign immunity — the mirror image of Western Sky, which lost the identical argument because Martin Webb owned it personally rather than the tribe owning it.
Plaintiffs pivoted to the non-tribal financier and won there instead: $43,401,817.47 against Matt Martorello on civil RICO grounds, affirmed by the Fourth Circuit in July 2025. The earlier Williams settlement did deliver — $8.7M cash, loans cancelled, collection capped at 2.5x principal, and the defendants barred from selling charged-off balances.
The LATER $65M Galloway settlement VOIDED on 13 November 2024 when the defendants could not fund it; sites still advertising it are wrong.
✓ Produced relief for borrowers
What happened to Castle Payday balances
What to do if you are still being collected from
- Check your loan date first. Relief in this industry is bounded by a window, and the boundary is where people lose. A Mountain Summit loan from February 2021 was not cancelled while its sister brands' were; a Lac du Flambeau loan after 1 October 2023 falls outside the $1.4 billion Fitzgerald cancellation.
- Check your state before you negotiate. In nine states, loans above the rate cap are void — nothing is owed regardless of the contract or any settlement. See where tribal loans are void.
- Do not pay to make it stop. A payment can restart the statute of limitations on a debt that may already be unenforceable. It is the most expensive reflex in debt collection.
- Demand written validation within 30 days of first contact: the original agreement, the full payment history, and proof the collector owns the debt. Chains of sale on tribal loans are frequently incomplete.
- Revoke ACH authorization in writing — to the lender and, separately, to your bank. Telling only one of the two is the common mistake.
Our full walkthrough is in how to get out of a tribal loan, and can tribal lenders sue you covers what they can and cannot actually do.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a lawsuit against Castle Payday?
Yes — Williams v. Big Picture Loans (4th Cir. (No. 18-1827)). Outcome: Tribe WON sovereign immunity. It did produce relief for borrowers.
Do I still owe my Castle Payday loan?
Yes, under the earlier Williams settlement: loans cancelled, collection capped at 2.5x original principal, all loans more than 210 days in default cancelled — and, unusually, the defendants were barred from selling or assigning charged-off balances, which is why these debts did not resurface with debt buyers. If your loan falls outside that, or a collector contacts you anyway, demand written validation and proof of ownership before paying anything.
Can I claim money from a Castle Payday settlement?
$8.7M, for 450,000+ class members. The claim deadline passed on 10 September 2021. Note: the LATER $65M Galloway settlement VOIDED on 13 November 2024 when defendants could not fund it — any site still advertising it is wrong.