Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
This tribe operates 2 tribal lending brands — 1 still lending and 1 closed. Across the portfolio, APRs span 607.5–699%.
Debt cancellation across this tribe's brands
- 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.
Active brands
Closed brands
Court record for this tribe's brands
1 case in our database touches a brand attributed to the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa , and one of them cancelled or refunded borrower money. This is the record that decides whether an old balance is still collectable.
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Tribe WON sovereign immunity
Borrower relief
What this portfolio actually costs a borrower
APR is an abstraction until it has a dollar attached. Of the 2 brands we attribute to the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 1 carry a rate we could source, and those run 607.5–699%. At the top of that range, $1,000 borrowed over twelve months repays about $7,018 — $6,018 of it interest. That ceiling sits below the 772% median top-of-range APR across every tribal lender we hold a rate for.
The remaining 1 brand never published a rate we could verify. We leave those out of the range rather than estimate them, which is why the span above covers 1 of 2 brands and not all of them.
The earliest brand here dates to 2011. The most recent closure was in 2016. Brands in this industry rebrand and relaunch constantly, so a name disappearing rarely means the lending stopped — check the closed list above for successors.
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa lending — frequently asked
Which lenders does the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa own?
We document 2 lending brands attributed to the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa of MI: Big Picture Loans, Castle Payday. 1 is still lending and 1 has closed.
What APR do Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa lenders charge?
Across the 1 Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa brand with a rate we could source, APRs span 607.5–699%. At the top of that range, borrowing $1,000 for twelve months costs about $7,018 to repay — $6,018 of it interest. That ceiling sits below the 772% median top-of-range APR across every tribal lender we hold a rate for. 1 of the tribe's brands never published a rate we could source, so they are excluded from that range rather than estimated.
Have Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa lenders been sued?
Yes. 1 case in our database touches a brand attributed to this tribe, and one of them cancelled or refunded borrower money. The most recent is Williams v. Big Picture Loans (2019, 4th Cir. (No. 18-1827)). Litigation history is the single best predictor of whether an old balance is still collectable.
Do I still owe a Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa loan?
Possibly not. Balances on Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa brands were cancelled in a settlement — check the claim details above before paying any collector, because collectors do still pursue debts that were legally wiped out. Whether a loan is enforceable also depends on your own state: nine states void these loans outright.
Ownership is verified against each brand's own disclosures, state regulator alerts and court filings. Where a non-tribal operator is named in litigation, we list it above — the lending LLC and the tribe are not always the party actually running the business.
Most tribal brands are one of several run by the same tribe, often through the same non-tribal operator. See the full picture: which tribe owns which lender?