Debt Settlement Co. Agrees To Pay $1.4M To End CFPB Claims
Emilie Ruscoe, 14 April 2021
Online debt-settlement company SettleIt Inc. has agreed to pay $1.4 million to end U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims that the company charged its customers for negotiating settlements with two creditors it was secretly affiliated with and steering the consumers into expensive loans with those companies.
The terms of a proposed judgment and order, filed Tuesday in California federal court, would require SettleIt to set aside about $647,000 to pay back the performance fees the company collected from consumers and pay a proposed $750,000 civil monetary penalty. The company neither admits nor denies the CFPB’s allegations.
According to the CFPB, SettleIt markets via telemarketing and a website that it can get consumers a reduction of their outstanding debt. The company charges customers a fee equal to 25% of the debt the consumers are trying to pay off.
The CFPB claims that two of the creditors SettleIt works with, CashCall and LoanMe, are owned by the same individual who owns SettleIt, and that all of the businesses are run out of the same building in Orange, California.
