On June 11, 2020, the North Dakota Office of the Attorney General (AG) announced that it had entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance agreement with a California-based debt relief company, under which the company agreed to issue refunds to North Dakota consumers and to cease doing business in North Dakota until the company is in full compliance with the state’s licensing law.
The AG initiated an investigation into the debt relief company, which had entered into contracts with eighteen North Dakota residents, after receiving a complaint from a woman who had paid the company almost $900, but after several months the consumer had not received the services she had been promised. After the consumer filed the complaint with the AG, the company made a full refund. According to the parties’ Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, the AG received complaints and other information indicating that the company may be selling merchandise to consumers without complying with the requirement of North Dakota’s Home Solicitation Statute, N.D.C.C. ch. 51-18, which requires, among other things, that service providers provide North Dakota consumers with both verbal and written notice of cancellation rights.
The company has since agreed to cancel its agreements with North Dakota consumers and issue refunds to consumers in North Dakota who request it, and to refrain from soliciting any new business until it complies with the state’s licensing requirements.