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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

FTC seeks permanent injunction against student loan debt relief operation

Federal Issues FTC Enforcement Debt Relief Student Lending FTC Act Telemarketing Sales Rule UDAP

Federal Issues

On July 11, the FTC announced it was charging a student loan debt relief operation with violations of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule for allegedly engaging in deceptive practices when marketing and selling their debt relief services. The complaint alleges the operators of the scheme allegedly, among other things, (i) charged borrowers illegal advance fees; (ii) falsely claimed they would service and pay down their student loans; and (iii) obtained borrowers’ credentials in order to change consumers’ contact information and prevent communications from loan servicers. According to the FTC, the defendants allegedly collected more than $23 million from consumers, and when asked why their payments were not being applied to their loans, the defendants “informed consumers that their entire payments had been collected as ‘handling’ or ‘management’ fees.” On July 10, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a temporary restraining order and asset freeze at the FTC’s request. The FTC seeks a permanent injunction against the defendants to prevent future violations, as well as redress for injured consumers through “rescission or reformation of contracts, restitution, the refund of monies paid, and the disgorgement of ill-gotten monies.”