On September 20, 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it reached a settlement with the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA), resolving allegations that the state agency unlawfully obtained default judgments against two military servicemembers for student loan debt in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). In a…
On August 9, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with a Tustin-based student loan debt relief company, resolving allegations that the company violated the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) when it collected illegal advance fees under the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). This settlement comes as the…
On May 17, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with several student loan debt relief companies and their respective owners. The settlement stems from a complaint filed in 2019, in which the FTC alleged the companies charged illegal upfront fees and led consumers to believe the fees were going towards consumers’ student loans in violation of Sections…
On April 26, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with an online coding school, resolving allegations that the school engaged in deceptive acts and practices in violation of California’s new Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL). The school offers its…
On April 6, 2021, the Pennsylvania Attorney General (Pennsylvania AG) announced that it reached an agreement with a Texas-based debt buyer concerning a portfolio of student loan debt it purchased from a now-defunct for-profit college. According to the Pennsylvania AG, the debt purchaser purchased the portfolio of loans after the for-profit college abruptly closed in December 2018 due to…
On March 3, Virginia’s Attorney General announced that the state reached a settlement with a student debt relief company for alleged Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA) violations. The simultaneously filed complaint alleged that from February 2015 through August 2018, the company misled nearly 2,200 student borrowers into purchasing student debt relief…
On February 10, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it will begin distributing over $1.7 million to consumers that it claims lost money as a result of an alleged student loan debt relief scheme. The payments are part of a 2018 settlement with a student debt relief group, previously covered by Enforcement Watch, that resolved…
On February 3, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced its first formal enforcement action against an Irvine-based student debt relief company. The DFPI’s action alleges that the company’s student debt relief practices violated the California Consumer Financial Protection Law and Student Loan Servicing Act. According to the DFPI, for over three…
On February 4, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) launched an investigation into whether four California-based student-loan debt-relief companies violated the new California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) and Student Loan Servicing Act (SLSA). The CCFPL took effect on January 1, 2021 and expanded the DFPI’s regulatory…
On January 26, 2021, a California federal judge granted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) motion for default judgment against a now-defunct financial aid services company. The court also granted in part the CFPB’s motion for summary judgment against the company’s founder. The ruling resolves a complaint filed by the CFPB in 2015, previously covered by…