A stop to interest and to sales, not money. Paragraph 3 reads: "Plain Green shall not charge or collect any interest on the Minnesota Loans after the effective date of this Agreement." ¹ The Minnesota Loans are loans to borrowers who listed a Minnesota address and had a balance outstanding on April 8, 2026, plus any later loans to Minnesota applicants. ¹ Paragraph 4 bars the officials from selling, assigning, transferring or otherwise disposing of those loans "or receivables or other interests related to such loans." Paragraph 1 requires Plain Green to stop marketing and making loans to Minnesota residents who apply from Minnesota. ¹

There is no payment term, and each side bears its own costs. ¹ The attorney general's office says the settlement imposes no penalties or monetary damages because federally recognized tribes hold sovereign immunity. ³ The state sued two Plain Green officials, Ian Stamper-Windy Boy and James Rader, in their official capacities and asked only for declaratory and injunctive relief. ⁴ The court keeps jurisdiction over disputes, and if the attorney general sends a written notice of noncompliance, the officials get 30 business days to respond, during which the state may not take any action (paragraph 11). ¹ The agreement does not say how many borrowers it covers, how much principal is outstanding or how much interest is forgone. ¹

On three points. The release says Plain Green "may collect only the original principal on existing loans, with all interest cancelled and past payments credited toward principal." ³ The agreement stops interest from September 23 forward and says nothing about principal or about crediting payments already made. ¹ The release says the company "is permanently barred from issuing illegal loans to Minnesotans going forward"; paragraph 2 lets it lend in Minnesota again under the state's consumer-lending statutes after 120 days' notice, and the agreement never uses the word permanent. ^{1 3}

The third point is the lender's own position. The release says Plain Green told borrowers who questioned its rates that Minnesota law did not apply, and it does not mention the rate cut that followed. ³ Recital D of the agreement states that "Plain Green's position is that Minnesota law does not apply to its loans," and records a tribal resolution, effective April 8, 2026, that cut the annual percentage rate on current and new Minnesota loans to 8%. ¹ At a July 14 hearing, Plain Green argued that the resolution made the case moot. Judge Bryan asked what would stop a return to the old rates and said that "to really make it moot would be to voluntarily cease any collection on those loans," Courthouse News reported. ⁵ The settlement goes part of the way: it ends interest collection and leaves principal unaddressed. ¹

The March 12 complaint alleged that Plain Green made thousands of online installment loans to Minnesotans at annual rates of 570 to 697 percent, all under $5,000 and typically under $1,000. ^{4 5} Those are allegations. The attorney general's release calls the loans illegal; the agreement contains no findings and states that it "shall not be considered an admission of a violation or wrongdoing" by the officials. ^{1 3}

No statement from Plain Green, the tribe or its counsel on the settlement was found. In July, Plain Green's attorney told the court the April resolution was adopted "to conform with Minnesota state law with respect to interest rates" and that there was "no intention to change that." ⁵

The company has been in court over this model before. In Gingras v. Think Finance, the Second Circuit held in 2019 that borrowers could sue Plain Green's tribal officers for prospective relief over conduct off tribal lands, and that the loan agreements' arbitration clauses were unenforceable. ⁷ Minnesota counts this as its third settlement with tribal-owned online lenders since February 2024. ³ In an earlier one, ProPublica reported, the top official of Wisconsin's Lac du Flambeau tribe denied the allegations but agreed that the tribe's lending arm would forgive all outstanding Minnesota loans, estimated at more than $1 million. ⁸ Plain Green's agreement forgives nothing; it stops interest. The state's small-dollar caps, 36 percent in many cases and 50 percent for licensed lenders that assess ability to repay, took effect in January 2024, ProPublica reported. ⁸

Because the remedy worked on the book, not on the lender's cash. Minnesota collected no money; it stopped the interest stream and blocked the sale of the receivables. ¹ New York used the same lever on merchant cash advance funders. Its January 22, 2025 settlement with 25 companies controlled by Yellowstone Capital and its officers included a $1.065 billion judgment, cancellation of $534,552,724 owed by merchants, an immediate $16.1 million payment, an end to collection, vacated court judgments and terminated liens. ^{6 9} The attorney general said the loans "were disguised as merchant cash advances." ⁶

Minnesota's usury chapter reaches business credit too. Section 334.011 lets a lender charge up to 4-1/2 percentage points over the discount rate on 90-day commercial paper at the Federal Reserve Bank for Minnesota's district on business or agricultural loans under $100,000. Charging more forfeits the entire interest due, and a borrower who paid it can recover twice the amount of interest paid. ¹⁰ Section 334.01 sets a general limit of $8 on $100 a year and lifts rate limits, with listed exceptions, on signed written contracts of $100,000 or more. ¹¹

The limit matters. Plain Green's loans are consumer loans, the case turned on Minnesota consumer-lending law and tribal immunity, and paragraph 7 says the agreement creates no rights for third parties. ^{1 4} Nothing in it decides whether a merchant cash advance or factoring agreement is a loan under Minnesota law. ¹

Read the filed order before repricing anything. Here the court-approved text differs from the announcement on principal, crediting and permanence, and only the approved terms bind anyone. ^{1 3} Map any Minnesota book under $100,000 against section 334.011 and document, product by product, why each sits outside it or inside its ceiling. ¹⁰ Check forward-flow, debt-sale and servicing agreements for what happens when a regulator bars the transfer or collection of a pool you bought or financed; paragraph 4 here blocks sales outright. ¹ Treat claims that state law does not apply as contested ground: Minnesota sued the lender's officials for prospective relief, the route the Second Circuit allowed against Plain Green's officers in 2019. ^{4 7}

What the record does not yet show: how many Minnesota borrowers the agreement covers; how much principal is outstanding or interest forgone; whether loans made after a paragraph 2 relaunch would fall under paragraph 3's interest bar, since the agreement's definition of the Minnesota Loans includes any loan made after April 8 to a Minnesota applicant; whether the docket has been formally closed; and any statement from Plain Green or the tribe on the settlement. ^{1 2 4}

The video makes one point: a Secretary of State check confirms that a business exists and is active, not that it holds a valid contractor license, and in Georgia, contracts with unlicensed contractors are void and unenforceable under Code 43-41-17. The gap between entity verification and license verification is where construction lending risk sits.

Cobalt’s Contractor License Verification API searches state contractor licensing portals and returns license status (active, expired, suspended or revoked), license type, expiration date and, where the state provides them, disciplinary actions. It covers California, Florida and Texas plus New York City’s Department of Buildings, and it runs alongside Cobalt’s Secretary of State API, which confirms the entity itself.

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VersaBank said on September 22 that its U.S. Structured Receivable Program, including a Real-Time version meant to fund individual loans within hours, is now open to "point-of-sale originators of small business loans and leases"; every U.S. funding so far had gone to retail consumer loans. ¹² The bank targets at least US$3 billion of new program fundings in fiscal 2027, against a U.S. book of US$793 million at July 31. ^{13 14} Its filings describe a limited-recourse purchase of loan and lease cash flows, advanced at a discount minus a holdback "structured as a multiple of expected losses," under a facility that is not committed: "we have no obligation to fund our SRP partners." ¹⁵ Pricing, advance rates, holdback size and eligibility rules are undisclosed, no small-business partner is named, and neither the release nor the circular mentions merchant cash advances, factoring or revenue-based financing. ^{12 15} The circular also reported one program facility whose holdback was not sufficient as of April 30. ¹⁵

KKR said on September 22 that funds it manages will commit $350 million through its asset-based finance strategy to Akrapoint Commercial Capital, a new mid-ticket lender for vocational assets, specialty trailers and industrial equipment used by small and middle-market businesses in manufacturing, energy, waste services, construction and transportation. ¹⁶ Chief executive Nate Smith spent nearly a decade at Trans Lease, and board chair Gary Shivers founded Navitas Credit Corp, according to the release. ¹⁶ KKR's June 30 10-Q put its asset-based finance assets at $91 billion. ¹⁷ The release does not say whether the $350 million is equity or debt, how ownership is split, or what deal sizes count as mid-ticket, and Akrapoint's application page read "Financing applications are coming soon" on September 24. ^{16 18} The release puts manufacturers and equipment vendors in the origination path, so independent lessors' dealer programs are where this capital competes first. ¹⁶

A Cox Capital fund offered on September 23 to buy Class I shares of Blackstone Private Credit Fund at $20.65 and HPS Corporate Lending Fund at $20.17, 12.5% and 17.5% below each fund's reported net asset value, with both offers set to expire November 3. ¹⁹ The bids follow third-quarter repurchase requests of about 10% of BCRED's shares, an estimated $4.3 billion, and about 11.5% of HLEND's, against the 5% each fund is buying back. ^{20 21} HLEND's board unanimously recommended that shareholders reject Cox's July offer at $18.40, about 25% below NAV. ²² Both funds are mainly corporate direct lenders, and their June 30 schedules of investments show no merchant cash advance, factoring or small-business lender positions. ^{23 24} What the offers add is a public price on how much a retail holder gives up to leave a semi-liquid credit fund early, a reference point for any lender whose own capital comes from funds with quarterly redemption limits. ¹⁹

_{Sources
1 U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota | State of Minnesota v. Stamper-Windy Boy, No. 0:26-cv-01840, Settlement Agreement with Order (Doc. 22), September 23, 2026
2 CourtListener | Docket, State of Minnesota v. Stamper-Windy Boy, No. 0:26-cv-01840 (D. Minn.)
3 Minnesota Attorney General | Attorney General Ellison stops online lender from charging Minnesotans nearly 700% interest, September 23, 2026
4 U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota | Complaint, State of Minnesota v. Stamper-Windy Boy (Doc. 1), March 12, 2026
5 Courthouse News Service | Judge questions limits of tribal immunity in Minnesota predatory lending suit, July 14, 2026
6 New York Attorney General | Announcement of the Yellowstone Capital settlement and $1.065 billion judgment, January 22, 2025
7 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit | Gingras v. Think Finance, Inc., opinion of April 24, 2019
8 ProPublica | Tribal Lender, Accused of Predatory Interest Rates, Exits Minnesota, December 6, 2024
9 Courthouse News Service | NY attorney general reaches $1 billion settlement with defunct cash advance firm over 'predatory' loans, January 22, 2025
10 Minnesota Statutes | Section 334.011, rates on business and agricultural loans under $100,000
11 Minnesota Statutes | Section 334.01, interest rate and general usury limit
12 VersaBank | VersaBank Significantly Expands Addressable Market for Structured Receivable Program in the U.S., September 22, 2026
13 VersaBank | Third-quarter fiscal 2026 results release, SEC Form 6-K exhibit, September 3, 2026
14 VersaBank | Management's Discussion and Analysis, third quarter of fiscal 2026, SEC Form 6-K exhibit
15 VersaBank and Versa Bancorp | Management Information Circular and Prospectus, SEC Form 6-K exhibit, August 2026
16 KKR via Business Wire | KKR Launches Equipment Finance Platform Akrapoint Commercial Capital, September 22, 2026
17 KKR & Co. Inc. | Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026
18 Akrapoint Commercial Capital | Apply page, observed September 24, 2026
19 Cox Capital via Business Wire | Cox Capital Announces Tender Offers for Class I Shares of Blackstone Private Credit Fund and HPS Corporate Lending Fund, September 23, 2026
20 Blackstone Private Credit Fund | Q3 2026 distribution and tender offer update, SEC filing, September 3, 2026
21 HPS Corporate Lending Fund | Q3 2026 tender shareholder letter, SEC filing, September 11, 2026
22 HPS Corporate Lending Fund | Form 8-K with the board's recommendation on Cox's July offer, July 27, 2026
23 Blackstone Private Credit Fund | Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026
24 HPS Corporate Lending Fund | Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026}