Plain Green move seen as progress

Members of the Chippewa Cree Business Committee said Thursday that a move by Plain Green, an online lender owned by the tribe, to break away from financial services provider Think Finance, demonstrates progress for the tribe.

“I think we took a giant step forward yesterday to controlling this whole company,” said tribal Chair Ken St. Marks during a meeting of the Business Committee.

Plain Green, which is based on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation,

It acts as an economic development arm of the tribe, providing money for scholarships and sponsoring a series of sporting and cultural events on the reservation.

Shelby DeMars, a Plain Green spokesperson, said the separation is the culmination of years of increased demand.

“Plain Green has grown, and we have been looking for new opportunities to grow, and this is the result,” DeMars said.

The online lender was started in 2011 and has partnered with Think Finance, a non-Native financial services provider based in Fort Worth, Texas, which has supplied Plain Green with marketing and financial services.

Though they will continue to do some business with outside vendors, Plain Green will largely handle all its own operations from on the reservation.

Ted Whitford, the Business Committee vice-chair, said under the previous arrangement, Think Finance received a large portion of the profits from Plain Green and the tribe only received about 5 percent of the money.

Now, he said, the majority of the money will go toward the tribe.

DeMars said the separation will allow the company to provide services to consumers at a lower cost.

She said that in the next year, Plain Green is aiming to increase the number of people it employs to 70, depending on growth. It has about 60 employees now.

Think Finance has come under criticism and has been accused of using Plain Green and its status as a tribally owned entity to skirt state laws that prohibit or limit interest rates on high risk loans in Montana and other states.

The Associated Press reported that a lawsuit by two Vermont women claims that rather than merely providing services to Plain Green, Think Finance has operated the company in order to evade state usury laws and pocket 95 percent of Plain Green’s profits.

DeMars said she could not comment on ongoing litigation but denied that Plain Green’s parting with its former vendor was connected with the lawsuits.

“We know there is a demand for these services, but we want to make sure we are offering that service as an affordable rate as possible,” DeMars said.