With some two-dozen tribes now offering installment and payday loans, Native Americans have found themselves wrestling with the ethics of the lucrative, but often predatory, practice. The Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians depends on the lending revenues, which account for 42 percent of the band's annual budget and have filled a shortfall that would have halted many of its health-care and education services. Before initiating its payday lending service, the Lac Vieux Desert Band was in dire straits, with a casino failing amid Michigan's weakened economy. Now, lending revenues  have allowed the tribe to subsidize propane costs during winters and to cover shipping costs for 12 trailers that will soon become permanent housing.