Is the Fitzgerald v. Wildcat Settlement Legit?

Yes, the Fitzgerald v. Wildcat settlement is legitimate. It is a real class action resolution approved by a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on December 17, 2024, under case number 3:20-cv-00044, and it delivers roughly $1.5 billion in combined debt cancellation and cash payments to borrowers who took out loans from a group of online lenders tied to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.¹ If you got a notice, it was ordered by the court, not sent by a marketer.

How to Confirm the Notice Is Real

A few checks will settle any doubt. The notice carries the line, “A federal court ordered this notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.” The docket exists on the federal court’s public system as case 3:20-cv-00044, Lori Fitzgerald, et al. v. Joseph Wildcat, Sr., et al., presided over by Senior Judge Norman K. Moon.²

The official settlement website is consumerloansettlement.com, and it hosts the court’s approval order alongside other case documents. The settlement administrator can be reached at 800-348-2540 or info@consumerloansettlement.com. Class counsel at Kelly Guzzo, PLC will also verify the case at 804-415-8848 or questions@kellyguzzo.com.¹

Two warning signs of a scam do not appear here. No one is asking you to pay a fee, and no claim form is required to receive benefits. If someone contacts you claiming otherwise, that person is not the settlement administrator.

What You Actually Get

The settlement provides three concrete benefits. First, roughly $1.4 billion in outstanding loan balances has been cancelled outright. Any covered loan that was still unpaid at the time of the settlement is wiped clean, the tribe agreed not to sell or assign those debts, and borrowers will not receive a 1099 tax form for the forgiven amount.¹

Second, a $37.35 million cash fund pays borrowers who repaid unlawful amounts on their loans. The payment you receive depends on how much you paid above what your home state’s interest rate laws would have allowed, and on what remains in the fund after administrative costs and attorney fees. Borrowers who lived in Utah or Nevada when they took out their loans do not get a cash payment, because those states do not cap interest rates on these loans.¹

Third, tribal officials are required to ask consumer reporting agencies to delete credit report entries tied to the covered loans, and the defendants agreed not to sell or transfer borrowers’ personal information for commercial purposes.¹

Who Is Covered

The class includes anyone who took out a loan from one of about twenty “LDF Lending Companies” between July 24, 2016, and October 1, 2023. The brands include Lendgreen, LendUMo, Zfunds, Makwa Financial, Brightstar Cash, National Small Loan, Bear Claw Lending, Sky Trail Cash, Loan at Last, Nine Torches, Bridge Lending Solutions, Lakeshore Loans, UbiCash, Cash Aisle, MitigCapital, Avail Blue, Evergreen Services, Blue River Lending, Quick Help Loans (also known as Greenline), and Radiant Cash.³

If you had a loan with one of those lenders in that window and did not opt out by October 29, 2024, you are in the class. The final fairness hearing was held on December 13, 2024, and final approval followed four days later.¹

What You Need to Do

Nothing, in most cases. Benefits are provided automatically. Cancelled debt is cancelled without any action on your part. Cash payments are calculated and sent by the settlement administrator using records from the lenders.

The first round of cash payments went out in March 2025. A second distribution is scheduled for June 2026 for class members whose first payments were successfully delivered.³ If you moved, changed bank accounts, or think a payment went to the wrong place, call the administrator at 800-348-2540.

If a debt collector contacts you about a loan that should have been cancelled, keep the notice you received and share it with class counsel at Kelly Guzzo. The settlement bars the tribe from selling or assigning those debts.

Why This Case Existed

The lawsuit was filed on July 24, 2020, by Lori Fitzgerald, Aaron Fitzgerald, and Kevin Williams, later joined by additional plaintiffs.² The plaintiffs alleged that tribal officials and non-tribal business partners operated an illegal online payday lending operation charging interest rates from 300% to more than 700% per year.⁴

They described the arrangement as a “rent-a-tribe” scheme, in which non-tribal payday lenders supplied the money, technology, and marketing while the tribe formally owned the lending entities and claimed the loans were shielded by tribal sovereign immunity from state usury and licensing laws.⁵ The complaint brought federal RICO claims and state usury and licensing claims under Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, and Florida law.⁴

Tribal leaders denied wrongdoing in the settlement, and Tribal President John Johnson Sr. has defended the lending business as legal and as a source of revenue for police, education, and health services on the reservation.⁶ The settlement resolves the borrowers’ claims without a finding of liability and allows the tribe to continue lending going forward. The case was formally terminated on December 17, 2024, and remains in its distribution phase.³

1
Consumer Loan Settlement. Fitzgerald v. Wildcat Settlement FAQ
2
CourtListener. Fitzgerald v. Wildcat Docket
3
Consumer Loan Settlement. Fitzgerald v. Wildcat Settlement Home
4
National Indian Law Library (NARF). Fitzgerald v. Wildcat Court Filing
5
Wisconsin Public Radio. Lac du Flambeau Tribal Leaders and Lenders Reach Deal in Class Action Lawsuit
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ProPublica. Wisconsin Lac du Flambeau Tribe Predatory Lending Lawsuit