I Thought Progress Advocates Group and Equitable Acceptance Was the Department of Education Servicer

Question:

Dear Steve,

I am apparently paying equitable acceptance for my loan through progress advocates group for consolidating my student loan for four years now and I thought they were with the department of education so I’m a little confused and tried to Google and found these articles. Is this still going on? Please help what do I do for now?

Answer:

I’m afraid your issues started the day you agreed to the services of Progress Advocates Group. There is no way to tell what the probably commissioned salesperson told you to make the sale.

And Progress Advocates Group is not a fan favorite judging by the reviews on the BBB website.

The issue with Equitable Acceptance is ongoing and a giant problem for consumers. You should read this article. That case involved the Federal Trade Commission going after Progress Advocates Group, Student Advocates Team, Student Advocates Group, Assurance Solution Services, Bradley Jason Hunt, and Sean Quincy Lucero. That case is still ongoing.

However, On September 12, 2019, a judgment was entered in this case against Equitable Acceptance.

As a result of that case, it was ordered that Equitable Acceptance Corporation (EAC) “is permanently restrained and enjoined from financing the purchase of, or Assisting Others in the advertising, marketing, promoting, offering for sale, selling, financing the purchase of, any Secured or Unsecured Debt Relief Product or Service.”

So essentially they were put out of the student loan assistance financing business.

Equitable Acceptance was also banned from collecting on agreements such as the one you apparently entered into.

“EAC, EAC’s officers, agents, employees, and attorneys, and all other Persons in active concert or participation with any of them, who receive actual notice of this Order, whether acting directly or indirectly, are permanently enjoined from attempting to collect, collecting, or assigning any right to collect payment from any consumer on any Debt or extension of credit related to the consumer’s purchase from any Corporate Debt Relief Defendant of any product or service (the “Customer Debt”). EAC shall not sell, assign, or otherwise transfer any Customer Debt. For each Customer Debt that EAC has reported to a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA), EAC shall, within ten (10) business days after entry of this Order, request that each CRA to which the Debt has been reported delete the Debt from the consumer’s credit reporting file. Within ten (10) business days of such request, EAC shall mail a notice to each affected consumer informing the consumer clearly and unambiguously of the following:

(1) that EAC had extended credit to the consumer in connection with a purchase of student-loan related services that the consumer had made, and identifying the specific Corporate Debt Relief Defendant from which the consumer had made the purchase;

(2) that, pursuant to an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, EAC will not collect or attempt to collect on any debt that the consumer had incurred as a result of EAC’s extension of credit to the consumer;

(3) that EAC will not sell, assign or otherwise transfer any outstanding debt that the consumer owes to EAC;

(4) that, to remain in any federal student loan payment assistance program offered by the U.S. Department of Education, and to avoid losing the benefits of continuous enrollment in such a program, the consumer is required each year to re-certify, and update certain information to the Department of Education, and that the consumer should contact the Department of Education or the consumer’s student loan servicer, and not EAC, for information as to how and when to submit the required annual re-certification;

(5) that EAC will no longer report to any information about the consumer’s EAC account to any Consumer Reporting Agency, and that for each Consumer Reporting Agency to which EAC has previously reported information about the consumer’s account with EAC, EAC has requested that the CRA delete the account from the consumer’s credit report; and

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(6) the name and contact information for each CRA to which EAC submitted the request to delete the consumer’s account from the consumer’s credit reporting file, and the date on which the request was sent.”

Equitable Acceptance was also ordered to pay $24,101,854 but was only able to pay $863,800 and the rest was suspended due to an inability to pay.

You can read the full judgment below.

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Bottom Line

You got hood-winked by Progress Advocates Group and then trapped in a financing agreement with Equitable Acceptance for student loan assistance services that were never part of the Department of Education.

You should immediately contact your loan servicers directly and make sure they have the correct contact information for you. Additionally, you must make sure you are still in good standing on your loans and/or in compliance with any program you were enrolled in by Progress Advocates Group. If you were enrolled in an Income-Driven Repayment Program and fail to file your annual recertification it can have significant consequences to you.

To find out who your federal student loan servicers are, login to the National Student Loan Data System for Students.

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Steve Rhode

Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.

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