Three Sticks Lending Active
Rosebud Sioux Tribe (REDCO) · lending since 2021
Three Sticks Lending publishes a rare worked example — an $826 loan repaying $6,427 at about 690% APR — and its BBB parent profile lists 11 alternate company names.
Three Sticks Lending at a glance
Active- Owning tribe
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (REDCO)
- Lending since
- 2021
- Loan amounts
- $300–$2,000
- APR range
- 400–780%
- Product
- installment
- Website
- threestickslending.com
What a Three Sticks Lending loan really costs
Three Sticks Lending offers $200–$3,000 over 10–18 months, and — unusually for this tier — publishes a concrete worked example: an $826 loan repaid in 20 bi-weekly payments of $321.36, totaling $6,427.20, at a representative APR near 690%.
Complaints focus on shock at the APR after signing, difficulty canceling ACH authorization, unexpected early withdrawals causing overdrafts, and 'preapproved' offers being reversed at the final step.
- Publishes a concrete cost example — rare honesty in this tier.
- Loans up to $3,000, including for first-time borrowers.
- Same-day funding if approved by 2 p.m. Central.
- Representative APR around 690%; an $826 loan repays $6,427.
- Hard to cancel ACH; early withdrawals trigger overdrafts.
- "Preapproved" offers reportedly reversed at the final step.
- BBB parent is "F" with 11 alternate names — a multi-brand family.
Where Three Sticks Lending lends
The list is published on its Availability & Rates page, and it also excludes the District of Columbia — plus South Dakota, home of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe that owns it. It matches Willow Lake Lending's exactly, the tribe's other brand. Washington's DFI has flagged the Rosebud Sioux operation as unlicensed.
By its own terms, Three Sticks Lending does not lend to residents of:
Does Three Sticks Lending report to credit bureaus?
Three Sticks explicitly does not report to the three major bureaus, so a loan will not build credit. It verifies applicants through Clarity and FactorTrust.
Three Sticks and Willow Lake are one operation
Three Sticks Lending and Willow Lake Lending are both Rosebud Sioux brands, and they publish the same excluded-state list down to the last entry: Arkansas, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.
They also share a website. Both carry an "Availability & Rates" page that carefully defines APR and never states one, a $20 late fee after 5 days, a $30 returned-payment fee and no prepayment penalty.
The same template runs on River Valley Loans and RiseUp Lending (Crow Creek Sioux) and on Minto Money and Birch Lending (Native Village of Minto) — six brands across three tribes.
Three Sticks breaks that pattern in one useful way: alone among the six, it publishes a concrete worked example. That single disclosure tells you more about real cost than the other five sites combined — worth remembering when a lender's transparency gets presented as a feature rather than the bare minimum.
Who actually owns and runs Three Sticks Lending
Three Sticks Lending trades as 'AFS CS dba Three Sticks Lending,' a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (REDCO), the economic arm of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in Mission, South Dakota. It launched in 2023.
Its BBB parent profile lists 11 alternate company names, signaling a multi-brand REDCO/Arrow lending family that also includes Willow Lake Lending and Arrow Credit.
Regulatory posture
Three Sticks operates under the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Consumer Financial Services Regulatory Code to place itself beyond state usury caps, and Washington's DFI has issued a consumer alert that the Rosebud Sioux operation is not licensed in the state.
No named individual lawsuit has surfaced yet, but the shared parent means the family carries collective exposure.
What Three Sticks Lending costs in dollars
Three Sticks Lending's published ceiling is 780% APR. Below is what that rate does to the amounts it actually lends, repaid over 12 monthly payments.
| You borrow | Monthly | Total repaid | Interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| $300 | $195 | $2,346 | $2,046 |
| $1,200 | $782 | $9,383 | $8,183 |
| $2,000 | $1,303 | $15,638 | $13,638 |
At 780%, a $300 balance accrues about $195 in interest every month. Any payment below that figure leaves you owing more than you started with, however long you pay.
Standard amortisation at the published ceiling rate; fees are not included, and your actual rate and term may differ. Run your own numbers in the payoff calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What is the APR on a Three Sticks loan?
Around 690%. The lender publishes its own example: an $826 loan repaid over 20 bi-weekly payments of $321.36, totaling $6,427.20. Your agreement states your exact rate.
Is Three Sticks Lending part of a larger group?
Yes. Its BBB parent lists 11 alternate names — a multi-brand family under the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation that also includes Willow Lake Lending and Arrow Credit.
Does Three Sticks Lending build credit?
No. It explicitly does not report to the three major bureaus and underwrites through Clarity and FactorTrust, so on-time payments will not raise your score.
Is Three Sticks Lending a tribal loan?
Yes. Three Sticks Lending is a tribal lending brand owned by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in SD. That means it lends under tribal law and claims sovereign immunity from your state's interest-rate cap, rather than holding a state lending licence. It is also why its APR reaches 400–780% — far above the roughly 36% cap most states set for small loans. Whether the loan is enforceable where you live depends on your state.
What does a Three Sticks Lending loan cost?
Three Sticks Lending lends $300–$2,000 at 400–780% APR. At those rates the total repaid is typically several times the amount borrowed, because interest is front-loaded — check the total of payments, not the monthly figure.
Is a Three Sticks Lending loan legal in my state?
It depends entirely on your state. High-cost tribal loans are effectively banned in nine states, where a loan above the rate cap can be void and not legally collectible, and restricted in many more. Three Sticks Lending claims tribal sovereign immunity from those caps — an argument courts have accepted in some cases and rejected in others. Check your state before you borrow, and especially before you pay a collector.
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Entries are built from the lender's own published disclosures, tribal corporate and lending-authority records, federal and state court filings, and CFPB, FTC and state regulator actions. Of the 143 brands in the full list of tribal lenders, 41 are confirmed lending, 74 sit on a watchlist pending verification, and 28 have shut down. Where a figure cannot be sourced we leave it blank rather than estimate it — which is why some entries are deliberately incomplete.
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