Markets Wired

The Federal Trade Commission is mailing checks totaling more than $3.1 million to consumers who were victims of a student loan debt relief and credit repair scheme.  

Strategic Student Solutions (also doing business under other names) and its owner, Dave Green, settled FTC allegations that they charged consumers illegal upfront fees and falsely promised to reduce their student loan debt or monthly payments by enrolling them in student loan forgiveness or other programs. The FTC also alleged that the defendants falsely promised to apply monthly payments to consumers’ student loans and to improve their credit scores and histories.

The FTC is mailing 20,988 checks—averaging $148 each—to victims of the scheme. The FTC never requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a refund check. If recipients have questions about the refunds, they should contact the FTC’s refund administrator, JND Legal Administration, at 1-888-304-0184.

The FTC’s new interactive dashboards for refund data provide a breakdown of FTC refunds by state and by case. In 2019, FTC actions led to more than $232 million in refunds to consumers across the country.