FTC proposes fines, bans based on alleged credit repair scheme

Federal Issues Courts FTC Enforcement Consumer Finance Credit Repair Fees UDAP Deceptive FTC Act Telemarketing Sales Rule

On August 5, the FTC announced proposed court orders that would require a defendant credit repair operation, its owners and associated companies (collectively, defendants) to pay more than $12 million to resolve allegations related to their credit repair products. As previously covered by InfoBytes, defendants allegedly targeted consumers with low credit scores, promising that the company’s products could remove all negative information from consumers’ credit reports and significantly increase their credit scores. Defendants also allegedly charged consumers upfront for the service. Additionally, the FTC claimed that the defendants sought to recruit consumers to participate in a “pyramid scheme” by representing that consumers could make tens of thousands of dollars recruiting others into the service. The operation allegedly violated the FTC Act, the Credit Repair Organizations Act, and the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The proposed settlements will result in over $12 million being turned over to the FTC for consumer refunds, and also impose conduct prohibitions on individual defendants, including industry bans.