Career Step LLC, an online career training company has been ordered to pay $43.5 million in cash and debt cancellation to resolve FTC charges that the company “lured consumers, specifically servicemembers and their families,...more
8/14/2024
/ Cancellation of Debt (COD) ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Debt ,
Debt Collection ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Military Service Members ,
Online Advertisements ,
Online Education ,
Redress Payments ,
Students
Two federal judges recently said that the Education Department lacked the power to reduce or cancel federal student loans under the SAVE program; an appeals court subsequently lifted the injunction in one case....more
Last week, the CFPB released its twelfth annual report to Congress on college credit card agreements. The annual report is mandated by the CARD Act....more
12/27/2023
/ Annual Reports ,
CARD Act ,
Card Issuers ,
Colleges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Cards ,
Department of Education ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Students
The New Jersey Attorney General (NJAG) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced settlements in concurrent actions against Sollers College, a for-profit college, its parent company, Sollers, Inc., and, in the...more
10/30/2023
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
For Profit Colleges ,
FTC Act ,
Income Share Agreements ,
Job Offers ,
Misrepresentation ,
Settlement ,
Students
The U.S. Department of Education recently announced final regulations, effective July 1, 2023, designed to expand and improve the major student loan discharge programs authorized by the Higher Education Act. Among other...more
With Colorado’s private education lender registration scheduled to take effect on September 1st, the Colorado Department of Law has just announced that they intend to bring a new group within their jurisdiction: private...more
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation announced last week that it has entered into a consent order with Lambda, Inc., which does business as Lambda School, to settle the DFPI’s claims that a...more
The Department of Education announced last week that it is changing how it determines relief for borrowers who assert “borrower defense claims.” Such claims allege that the borrower was misled by his or her school or that...more
Taking a step that undoubtedly presages further coordinated action, state officials holding the title of Student Loan Ombudsman or comparable titles sent a joint letter to Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and...more
3/6/2020
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Education ,
Disability ,
Dischargeable Debts ,
Eligibility Determination ,
Federal Student Loans ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Ombudsman ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Relief Measures ,
Students
The CFPB filed a complaint last week in a California federal district court against several companies and individuals involved in offering student loan debt relief services for allegedly obtaining consumer reports unlawfully,...more
1/14/2020
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reports ,
Damages ,
Debt Relief ,
Debt-Relief Industry ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Injunctions ,
Redress Payments ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Student Loans ,
Students ,
Telemarketing Sales Rule
A group of 22 state Attorneys General have sent a letter to the Department of Education seeking information “to determine whether the [ED] is providing relief to thousands of former ITT Tech students as required by federal...more
11/19/2019
/ Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Consumer Loan Companies ,
Debt Relief ,
Department of Education ,
Dischargeable Debts ,
Federal Student Loans ,
Information Technology ,
State Attorneys General ,
Students
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has announced the creation of a Student Debt Advisory Board to advise on consumer protection, student financial products or services, and communities that have been...more
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators have introduced the “ISA Student Protection Act of 2019” that would create a legal framework for income share agreements (ISA) offered to students. ...more
8/7/2019
/ ECOA ,
EFTA ,
Electronic Fund Transfer Act ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Military Lending Act ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Qualifying Income ,
SCRA ,
Student Loans ,
Students ,
Tuition
Three more bills dealing with credit reporting were passed on Tuesday by the House Financial Services Committee. Like the four bills passed by the Committee last week, none of the bills passed yesterday received any...more
7/18/2019
/ Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Credit Scores ,
Financial Services Committee ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Special Access Services ,
Students
The CFPB has released its seventh annual report to Congress on college credit card agreements. The annual report is mandated by the CARD Act....more
1/3/2019
/ Annual Reports ,
CARD Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Card Agreements ,
Credit Cards ,
Educational Institutions ,
Marketing ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Students
The saga of ITT Educational Services, Inc. appears to be drawing closer to an end, with ITT’s bankruptcy trustee and attorneys for former ITT students entering into a proposed class action settlement that would permanently...more
The CFPB released its sixth annual report to Congress on college credit card agreements. The annual report is mandated by the CARD Act. ...more
1/9/2018
/ Annual Reports ,
Banking Sector ,
CARD Act ,
Colleges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Card Agreements ,
Credit Cards ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Marketing ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Students
The CFPB released its annual report on college credit card agreements (the fifth issued by the CFPB), together with a compliance bulletin regarding the obligation of colleges and universities under the CARD Act to publicly...more
12/16/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
CARD Act ,
CFPB Bulletins ,
Colleges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Card Agreements ,
Credit Cards ,
Department of Education ,
Higher Education Act ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Students ,
Universities
Student loan servicers located in California servicing loans made to residents of any state and those located elsewhere servicing loans made to California residents will be subject to a new licensing requirement created by...more
In a new blog post by Student Loan Ombudsman Seth Frotman, the CFPB discusses its concerns regarding how student loan servicers may be responding to borrowers seeking to make partial prepayments on their student loans and...more
9/29/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loan Servicer ,
Ombudsman ,
Payment Terms ,
Private Student Loans ,
Student Loans ,
Students
In a new blog post, the CFPB states that recent research “underscores the disproportionate impact of student debt on communities of color.” According to the CFPB, federal government data shows that over 90 percent of...more
The CFPB announced that it has entered into a consent order with Bridgepoint Education, Inc., the owner of two for-profit colleges, to settle charges that the company’s representatives engaged in deceptive acts or practices...more
9/13/2016
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Colleges ,
Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Educational Institutions ,
For Profit Colleges ,
For Profit Education ,
Student Loans ,
Students ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The Department of Education has released a memorandum to provide policy direction for the new federal student loan “state-of-the-art loan servicing ecosystem” that the ED is currently procuring. According to the memorandum,...more
The Department of Education has published a notice in the Federal Register inviting comments on its plans to create a new Web site by July 1, 2016 for students and borrowers to file complaints about federal student loans. The...more
The CFPB has issued a “Mid-year update on student loan complaints” that analyzes the approximately 3,100 private student loan complaints received by the CFPB betweenOctober 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. The update also analyzes...more