Student loan debt relief scammer Brandon Frere and his companies, including Ameritech Financial, have entered into an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to settle charges they misled approximately 40,000 consumers about lowering their student loan debt. According to the FTC’s 2018 complaint, Brandon Frere and his companies sent personalized mail to consumers that falsely claimed … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) today filed a complaint against Performance SLC, LLC (PSLC), a California debt-relief business focused on federal student loan debt; Performance Settlement, LLC (PSettlement), a California debt-settlement company; and Daniel Crenshaw, the owner and CEO of the two companies. The Bureau alleges that PSLC and Crenshaw charged illegal advance fees … Read more
Back in May the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) entered a stipulated final judgment and order against Defendant Chou Team Realty, LLC, Defendants and Relief Defendants Thomas Chou and Sean Cowell, and Relief Defendants TDK Enterprises, LLC and Cre8labs, Inc., which resolved the Bureau’s claims against them. On July 7, 2020, the Court entered a … Read more
It appears Premier Student Loan Center has come to an agreement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) the State of North Carolina, and the State of California regarding the case brought against them for scamming consumers. This case ranks in the top of of most interesting raid reports. The companies that were the focus … Read more
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission in a case against the operators of a student loan debt relief scheme. The defendants are banned from telemarketing or providing debt relief services. The court found that the operators, doing business as Federal Direct Group, … Read more
Equitable Acceptance has been or was a big player in the student loan assistance space. While it might not have been the intention of Equitable Acceptance to create an unfortunate situation of enabling less than stellar student loan relief companies to sell questionable services, sell the originated contracts to Equitable Acceptance, get paid a portion, … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) today filed a complaint in the federal district court for the Central District of California against GST Factoring, Inc., which runs a student-loan debt-relief business in Texas, and two of its owners, Rick Graff and Gregory Trimarche, as well as Champion Marketing Solutions, LLC, a customer service and marketing … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) settled with Timemark, Inc., a company based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, that provides debt-relief services to consumers with federal student-loan debt, and with its owners and officers, Timothy Lenihan, Sr., Mark Nagler, and Casey Gassaway. The Bureau alleged that the defendants charged illegal advance fees in violation of the … Read more
What began as a student loan assistance marketing effort managed to end with an $18 million CFPB stipulated judgment. The people and entities involved used credit bureau data they obtained for mortgage marketing to generate leads for their student loan assistance marketing. The original Defendants, in this case, were Chou Team Realty, Monster Loans, MonsterLoans, … Read more
It seems some student loan assistance companies are already charging ahead trying to leverage the coronavirus crisis. The recorded message below was sent in by a friend and seems to me to be attempting to use the current crisis to generate calls. I cut the number out. What the message does not make clear is … Read more
Defendants allegedly charged illegal upfront fees and failed to disclose they paid consumers for positive BBB reviews Three California-based student loan debt relief companies and their owner have agreed to be permanently banned from the debt relief business in order to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they falsely promised to lower or eliminate consumers’ … Read more
The Federal Trade Commission is mailing checks totaling more than $3.1 million to consumers who were victims of a student loan debt relief and credit repair scheme. Strategic Student Solutions (also doing business under other names) and its owner, Dave Green, settled FTC allegations that they charged consumers illegal upfront fees and falsely promised … Read more
Three defendants in a student loan debt relief scheme have been banned from telemarketing and selling debt relief, and ordered to pay millions in resolution of Federal Trade Commission allegations that they deceived consumers by promising to reduce or eliminate consumers’ student loan debt. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found … Read more
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 … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I read your article on the current situation with the lawsuit between the trade commission and debt relief companies. A little more background I graduated from the for-profit art institute of Fort Lauderdale in 2007 with a bachelor of computer science and illustration. Along with others, I couldn’t find work in my … Read more