Tag: Finance

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against Seek Capital and its founder and CEO, Roy Ferman, for operating a bogus business finance scheme that cost small business owners more than $37 million.

According to a complaint filed by the FTC, the company has targeted new and aspiring small business owners looking for loans or lines of credit to open or grow their businesses. While the company’s advertising implies that business owners would have access to cash, instead Seek charges clients thousands of dollars simply to open credit cards in the owners’ names.

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against online cash advance app Dave for allegedly using misleading marketing to deceive consumers about the amount of its cash advances, charging consumers undisclosed fees, and charging so-called “tips” to consumers without their consent.

Dave describes the consumers it targets as being “financially vulnerable” or “financially coping,” including those whose spending exceeds their income, who have minimal savings, and who overdraft their bank accounts frequently.

Dave’s advertising is dominated by claims that consumers can receive “up to $500” by using Dave, and that they can do so “instantly.” According to the FTC’s complaint, though, Dave’s service failed to live up to its promises.

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against bill payment company Doxo and two of its co-founders, charging that the company uses misleading search ads to impersonate consumers’ billers and deceptive design practices to mislead consumers about millions of dollars in junk fees they tacked on to consumers’ bills.

The complaint alleges that Doxo, its CEO and co-founder Steve Shivers, and its vice president and co-founder Roger Parks, have known from years of internal surveys and complaints from tens of thousands of consumers and hundreds of billers of the harms their business model caused consumers and have still failed to correct their unlawful actions.

The Federal Trade Commission and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) are taking action against various companies doing business as Home Matters USA, Academy Home Services, Atlantic Pacific Service Group, and Golden Home Services America, and the owners of the companies, Dominic Ahiga and Roger Scott Dyer, for operating a sham mortgage relief operation that misled consumers and cost them millions. In the first case brought jointly by the two agencies, the FTC and DFPI allege that the companies charged consumers thousands of dollars with false promises they would negotiate with consumers’ mortgage lenders to alter their loans, at times even representing they were affiliated with government COVID-19 relief programs. A federal court has temporarily shut down the operation and frozen the assets of the defendants in the case.

The court’s orders bar the individuals and their companies from directly or indirectly engaging in telemarketing, debt relief services, and making any misrepresentations or unsubstantiated claims about any product or service.

As a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, the operators of an alleged credit card debt relief scheme based in Tennessee have agreed to court orders that would permanently ban them from telemarketing and selling debt relief products or services.

Sean Austin, John Steven Huffman, John Preston Thompson, and their affiliated companies were charged by the FTC in November 2022 with taking tens of millions of dollars from people by falsely promising to eliminate or substantially reduce their credit card debt. At the time, a federal court agreed to the FTC’s request to temporarily freeze the defendants’ assets and appoint a receiver over the businesses while the case took place.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, entered the final orders on April 28, 2023.

The Federal Trade Commission and a group of 18 states sued national jewelry retailer Harris Jewelry to stop the company from cheating military families with illegal financing and sales practices. According to the complaint, the jewelry company deceptively claimed that financing jewelry purchases through Harris would raise servicemembers’ credit scores, misrepresented that its protection plans were not optional or were required, and added the plans to purchases without consumers’ consent. The complaint also includes a charge that the jewelry company violated the Military Lending Act, the FTC’s first action under this Act.

A federal court has ordered Harris Jewelry to reopen its claims process and renotify consumers, most of whom are active duty servicemembers, to submit their claims for refunds. The court found Harris Jewelry violated its prior settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and a multistate group led by the New York Attorney General’s Office by prematurely shutting down the claims portal.

The new claims process is open for 33 days, starting November 18, 2024 and ending Saturday, December 21, 2024.