Over 615,000 Borrowers Receive $42 Billion in Debt Relief Through Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was established in 2007 to provide debt relief to nonprofit and government agency employees. The program’s goal was to forgive the student loans of borrowers after they made 120 qualifying payments (10 years of payments). However, the program’s approval rate was low, with only around 7,000 borrowers approved … Read more

Permanent Ban from Debt Relief, Telemarketing for Operators of Debt Relief Scam

In November 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Sean Austin, John Steven Huffman, John Preston Thompson, and their affiliated companies with deceiving consumers by falsely promising to eliminate or substantially reduce their credit card debt. The FTC alleged that the defendants took tens of millions of dollars from people through their deceptive debt relief … Read more

FTC Stops Student Loan Debt Relief Schemes that it Says Bilked Students Out of Millions

The Federal Trade Commission has stopped a pair of student loan debt relief schemes that it says bilked students out of approximately $12 million by using deceptive claims about repayment programs and loan forgiveness that did not exist. The agency also says the companies falsely claimed to be or be affiliated with the Department of Education … Read more

Former Credit Counseling Executive and Serial Dirtbag, Andris Pukke – Arrested

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the unsealing of an Indictment in Manhattan federal court charging ANDRIS PUKKE with wire fraud and with engaging … Read more

Who Knew TitleMax Sucked This Bad?

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against a web of corporate entities operating under TMX Finance, broadly known as TitleMax, for violating the financial rights of military families and other consumers in providing auto title loans. The CFPB found that TitleMax violated the Military Lending Act by extending prohibited title loans to … Read more

Litigation Practice Group Lawsuit by Business Partner All Service Financial – We Want Our Money

Samuel J. Arsht, Esq. – SBN 100156 Jeffrey A. Meinhardt, Esq. – SBN 245090 SILVER & ARSHT 1860 Bridgegate Street, Suite 100 Westlake Village, California 91361-1409 Phone: (805) 495-4044 Fax: (805) 494-4704 E-mail: sam@silverandarsht.com, imeinhardt@silverandarsht.com Attorneys for Plaintiff ALL SERVICE FINANCIAL, LLC. IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF ORANGE COUNTY … Read more

HomeAdvisor and Angi to Pay Up To $7.2 Million and Stop Deceptively Marketing its Leads for Home Improvement Projects

The Federal Trade Commission today issued a proposed order requiring Denver-based HomeAdvisor, Inc. – a company affiliated with Angi, formerly known as “Angie’s List” – to pay up to $7.2 million for using a wide range of deceptive and misleading tactics in selling home improvement project leads to service providers, including small businesses operating in the “gig” … Read more

FTC Order Requires LasikPlus to Pay for its Bait-and-Switch Eye Surgery Ads

The Federal Trade Commission today issued an order requiring Ohio-based LCA-Vision, doing business as LasikPlus and Joffe MediCenter, to pay $1.25 million for using deceptive bait-and-switch advertising to trick consumers into believing they could have their vision corrected for less than $300. In reality only 6.5 percent of consumers lured in for consultations were eligible … Read more

DOE wants to modernize the student loan program but mucks up the planning process

Like a repentant boozer who promises to give up drinking, the Department of Education pledged to modernize its neanderthal student loan program. Unfortunately, like a chronic drunk, DOE simply can’t clean up its act. DOE’s own Inspector General audited the Department’s modernization efforts and issued a report last week.  The audit concluded that DOE bungled its modernization … Read more