CFPB sues FDATR and owners over telemarketing tied to student-loan relief
The CFPB filed a lawsuit against FDATR, Inc. and its owners over alleged deceptive and abusive telemarketing practices in student-loan debt relief and credit repair.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit on Nov. 20, 2020, against FDATR, Inc. and its owners, Dean Tucci and Kenneth Wayne Halverson, alleging deceptive and abusive telemarketing practices tied to student-loan debt-relief and credit-repair services.
According to the complaint, FDATR marketed services through telemarketing and telephone sales. The bureau says the Illinois company promised to reduce or eliminate student-loan payments and to improve credit scores, while also claiming it could remove negative credit status codes or ratings from credit reports.
The CFPB alleges those promises were false. It said the company charged an initial fee of $1 to $99 to confirm a payment method, then typically collected at least $499 in a one-time payment within two to three weeks of enrollment or $600 in installments over three to six months. The complaint says the company did no work to deliver the promised credit-report results.
FDATR was involuntarily dissolved in Illinois in September 2020, according to the source text. The alleged misconduct is said to have taken place between 2011 and 2019.
The bureau says the complaint alleges violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010. It also alleges that Tucci and Halverson are individually liable because they knew of, directed and substantially assisted in the conduct at issue.
The CFPB is seeking injunctions against FDATR, Tucci and Halverson, along with damages, redress for consumers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and civil money penalties.
The source material does not include a response from FDATR, Tucci or Halverson.
What happens next will depend on the federal court case, which was filed in Illinois.
Sources
- Consumer Finance Monitor: CFPB sues debt-settlement company and its owners for abusive telemarketing practices
- Google News RSS item
Editorial note: This article was prepared with AI assistance and includes source attribution for reader review.
Comments ()