On May 8, 2023 the FTC announced that it filed complaints against two loan forgiveness and debt relief companies on April 24, 2023 alleging that they falsely claimed to be affiliated with the Department of Education. The companies allegedly told students that certain fee payments would count toward repayment programs and student…
On September 1, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it reached a settlement with a personal finance company to resolve allegations that it engaged in deceptive acts or practices in violation of Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA), 15 U.S.C. § 45(a). According to the FTC, the personal…
On March 21, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it obtained a permanent injunction against a credit repair company and its CEO, barring the company from making representations that it can improve consumers’ credit scores. The injunction was issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in relation…
On January 26, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it resolved claims against the remaining defendants in an action concerning student loan debt relief products and services that commenced in 2019. As we previously reported, the FTC filed a complaint against a collection of interrelated companies in November 2019, alleging that they used fraudulent…
On January 7, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had agreed to a settlement with a company that collected and generated leads for financial services products. In its simultaneously-filed complaint in the U.S. District court for the Central District of California, the FTC alleged that the company collected consumer data through a network…
On December 13, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it reached a settlement with a group of South Carolina-based debt collection companies to resolve allegations that the companies violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FTC’s complaint, originally filed in July…
On September 9, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it issued a $250 million civil money penalty against a national bank for alleged deficiencies in the bank’s home lending loss mitigation program, and for purportedly failing to meet its obligations under a 2018 consent order…
On May 10, 2021, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a settlement with an Oregon-based bank concerning the bank’s alleged violations of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1). Under the settlement, the bank stipulated to the issuance of an order to pay a civil money penalty of $1.8 million. The FDIC…
On February 11, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a $114 million settlement with the owners and operators of an alleged tribal payday lending scheme. The settlement resolves allegations concerning defendants’ purported violations of the unfair or deceptive practice provisions (UDAP) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud…
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 10, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced settlements with two payment processing companies and two individuals, resolving claims concerning an alleged credit card laundering scheme perpetrated in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. § 53(b), and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act (Telemarketing Act), 15 U.S.C. §§…
On January 29, 2021, the FTC announced that it filed a proposed settlement in the District of Nevada with two Nevada-based consulting companies, resolving claims that the companies violated the FTC Act, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, Telemarketing Sales Rule, Credit Repair Organizations Act, and Consumer Review Fairness Act. The FTC alleged that, since…
On December 10, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (Commission) announced that it reached a settlement with a payment processor and its former CEO for alleged violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA). The complaint alleges that the payment processor illegally processed more than $93 million in consumer credit card charges related to fraudulent…
On November 18, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had filed a complaint against a California-based mobile banking app and its founder and CEO for allegedly falsely misrepresenting to users that they would receive high interests rates on their banking accounts and that they would have constant access to their funds. According to the complaint,…
On September 29, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had filed a pair of lawsuits in federal district court against two debt collection companies, related entities, and owners for allegedly violating the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). The FTC…
On May 22, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had obtained a temporary restraining order against a payday lending enterprise for alleged violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z, and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and…
On March 30, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a settlement with three student loan debt relief companies and their owner, resolving allegations that the companies made false promises to consumers and charged illegal fees in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA), 15…
On December 11, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had reached a settlement with the remaining Defendants in an enforcement action against multiple related companies and their controllers involved in an alleged phantom debt scheme in which the Defendants pressured consumers into paying non-existent debts by threatening legal action…
On December 30, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada had ruled in its favor in a case against the operators of a mortgage scheme that deceived homeowners, which was filed in January 2018. Per the findings of the final…
On December 5, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that a federal court in Texas has halted the operations of a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider that allegedly played a key role in robocalling consumers to promote a credit card interest reduction scheme that bilked consumers out…