On January 9, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a complaint against a constellation of companies for allegedly requesting credit reports without a permissible purpose in order to deceptively market sham student-loan debt relief services to consumers, in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act…
On December 10, 2019, the FTC announced a settlement with a major for-profit university and its parent company to resolve allegations that they deceived potential students in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C.§ 45. According to the FTC, the defendants used advertisements to attract students…
On November 12, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that on it had filed a lawsuit against a collection of interrelated companies and individual defendants for allegedly misrepresenting themselves as affiliated with the Department of Education in order to convince consumers to sign up for student loan debt relief. The…
On October 30, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced an action to halt a student-loan debt-relief operation engaged in allegedly unlawful conduct. The CFPB filed its complaint on October 21, 2019 and requested a temporary restraining order in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California….
On October 3, 2019, the New York Attorney General’s office (NY AG) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against a major student-loan servicer for failing to properly administer the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. According to the complaint, the servicer allegedly employed deceptive, unfair, and abusive practices such…
On September 12, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had settled lawsuits against the operators of two alleged student loan debt relief schemes, and a financing company that assisted them, alleging that they had bilked millions of dollars from consumers. The FTC alleged that the defendants violated…
On September 5, 2019, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced that it was launching a new investigation into the student loan debt relief industry. NYDFS stated that, as part of its “Step Up for Students” initiative, it was issuing subpoenas to eight student loan debt relief companies…
On August 12, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a proposed settlement with a for-profit higher-education institution. The CFPB filed a complaint against the institution in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on February 26, 2014, alleging that the institution had violated the Consumer…
On August 7, 2019, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (“Massachusetts AG”) announced that it filed a complaint and consent judgment in Suffolk County Superior Court. The consent judgment bans a purportedly unlicensed finance company from collecting on any active student loan debt relief accounts in Massachusetts, and requires the company to pay $340,000 to repair the credit of…
On August 8, 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James (“New York AG”) announced a settlement and consent order with a student loan debt relief company, resolving the complaint’s allegations that the company deceived borrowers into paying for debt relief services that are available to the public for free from the federal government…