CFPB Imposes $8 Million Civil Penalty on For-Profit Company over Allegedly Deceptive Student Lending Practices

CFPB Dodd-Frank Student Lending Enforcement Settlement

On September 12, the CFPB entered into a consent order with a San Diego-based for-profit education company to resolve allegations that its student lending practices were deceptive in violation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Starting in 2009, the company, which owns two for-profit colleges, has operated an in-house institutional-lending program (Program). The CFPB alleged that under the Program thousands of students borrowed in the aggregate approximately $23,544,184, of which the company collected more than $4,900,000 in principle and interest, with more than $18,000,000 in debt remaining outstanding. The company claimed that, through the Program, students could repay their loans with a minimum monthly payment of $25; the CFPB contends, however, that the company’s marketing practices were deceptive because the typical loan payments under the Program exceeded $25. Pursuant to the consent order, the company must (i) provide cancellation of $18.5 million in existing student debt and pay $5 million in redress directly to affected students; (ii) ensure that students utilize the CFPB’s newly released Electronic Financial Impact Platform, which ultimately generates a customized disclosure for students regarding, among other things, finance offerings available and estimated post-graduate expenses; (iii) stop making allegedly misleading statements regarding students’ monthly payment obligations; (iv) remove any negative information that was reported to consumer-reporting agencies; and (v) pay an $8 million civil penalty.