Ellison sues app lender over high-interest loans in Minnesota
Ellison’s suit says Brigit charged Minnesotans loans topping 300%, sometimes 700%, far above the state’s 50% cap.
In Otter Tail County, a quick cash advance can become a debt problem before the next paycheck arrives. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Bridge It, Inc., which does business as Brigit, saying the app lender issued tens of thousands of high-cost loans to Minnesotans while skirting state lending rules.
The June 10 lawsuit says Brigit operated as an unlicensed, unregistered consumer small-loan and consumer short-term lender. The company markets its product as Instant Cash and earned wage advances, but the state says the app preauthorizes ACH withdrawals from borrowers’ bank accounts for repayment and fees, making the advances loans in both legal and common-sense terms.
Ellison said the loans regularly carried annual percentage rates above 300% and sometimes above 700%, far above Minnesota’s 50% cap for consumer short-term loans. State law tightened payday-lending rules in 2023, and the Minnesota Department of Commerce describes payday loans as short-term, high-cost borrowing, usually $500 or less and due on the borrower’s next payday. Loans above 36% APR can also trigger an ability-to-repay analysis under state guidance.
For people in Perham and across Otter Tail County, that gap matters. A borrower trying to cover groceries, gas, rent or a utility bill with an app-based advance could face costs that quickly dwarf the size of the original loan, while traditional borrowing through banks or credit unions is supposed to operate within Minnesota’s lending framework rather than the pricing alleged in this case.
The Brigit case also follows a prior enforcement push against online lenders. In October 2023, Ellison sued Bright Lending, Green Trust Cash and Target Cash Now, which were tied to Island Mountain Development Group, alleging interest rates of 400% to 800%. By February 2024, the attorney general announced a settlement that stopped collection of illegal interest after at least $540,000 had been collected from defaulted Minnesota borrowers, with outstanding balances that could have exceeded $1 million.
Brigit was founded in 2017 in New York by Hamel Kothari, Len Kunin and Zuben Mathews. Public company-profile sources say it later expanded nationally and was acquired by Upbound Group in December 2024 in a deal valued at up to $460 million. Brigit says it serves millions of users and offers cash advances of roughly $25 to $500, but the lawsuit could determine whether app-based cash-advance products and earned wage access models are subject to Minnesota’s payday-lending caps.
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