On February 14, 2023, the Minnesota Attorney General (AG) announced a settlement with a California-based student-loan debt relief company to resolve allegations that the company operated a fraudulent student loan debt forgiveness scheme. The AG alleged that the company violated Minnesota’s Debt Settlement Services Act, Minn. Stat. §§ 332B.03-.12, the Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act, Minn. Stat. §…
On November 18, 2022, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (Minnesota AG) announced that it entered into a consent order with a California student-loan debt-relief company to resolve allegations that the company illegally collected fees from customers and mispresented its services to consumers. According to the Minnesota AG, the company “falsely promised consumers student-loan…
In September 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a special edition of Supervisory Highlights regarding recent examination findings related to student loan servicing. The Supervisory Highlights focus on three sets of “significant supervisory findings:” (i) blanket policies to withhold transcripts in connection with an extension of credit are abusive…
On June 9, 2022, the CFPB announced that it had reached an agreement with the former owner of a student-loan debt relief company banning the owner from the debt-relief industry. The CFPB filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California alleging that the individual violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act…
On May 11, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had resolved an enforcement action against two debt-relief payment processors and one of their co-founders. The CFPB alleged the processors improperly collected debt relief fees from consumers, misled consumers about timing of fee payments, and sent illegal fee advancements to debt-relief companies….
On April 29, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it reached a settlement with the CEO of a student loan debt relief company to resolve alleged violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), 16 C.F.R. Part 310, and the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a),…
On April 15, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it obtained a permanent injunction against an Illinois-based, offshore, for-profit medical school for deceptive marketing practices. In its complaint and stipulated order filed same-day in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the FTC alleged that the school violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) when…
On March 30, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a student-loan servicer for alleged deceptive acts and practices in violation of the CFPA, 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a)(1)(B). The CFPB alleged that the servicer made deceptive statements to student loan borrowers and misrepresented their…
On February 18, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a Compliance Bulletin and Policy Guidance (Bulletin) regarding the servicing of Federal student loans for borrowers who may be eligible under the recently-issued Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Waiver. The CFPB announced that it will be closely reviewing student…
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 14, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it reached an agreement with a student loan servicer that had serviced loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. The agreement resolves allegations that the loan servicer submitted false claims to the Department of Education (DOE) in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA)….
On January 13, thirty-nine state Attorneys General announced that they had reached a settlement with a national student loan servicer. The settlement resolves allegations that, since 2009, the servicer had been steering borrowers into higher-cost, longer-term forbearance arrangements. The Attorneys General alleged the practices increased borrower loan balances and violated various provisions of each state’s laws. …
On November 8, 2021 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it entered into a stipulated order with a payment processor, resolving allegations that the payment processor violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) by facilitating payments related to an unlawful student…
On September 30, 2021, the Minnesota Attorney General (“Minnesota AG”) announced that a federal bankruptcy court had approved $23.6 million in student debt relief and $15.8 million in restitution for students of two for-profit universities that allegedly engaged in consumer fraud and illegal lending practices. The settlement, originally announced in March 2021, resolved allegations that the universities misled students…
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 September 7, 2021, the Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) announced that it reached a settlement with a debt collection company, resolving allegations that the company engaged in unfair and deceptive debt collection practices in violation of state law. In particular, the company is alleged to have (1) initiated more than two…
On September 7, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a group of affiliated education financing companies that provided students with income share agreements (ISAs) to finance postsecondary education. The consent order resolves allegations that the companies violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), Regulation Z…
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 28, 2021, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy (Massachusetts AG) announced a settlement with a bank, acting as an agent for lenders, which requires the bank to permanently discharge debts and return payments made by certain former students of a regional for-profit university. The settlement requires the bank to refund over $30,000 in recent loan repayments made by certain Massachusetts borrowers…
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…