On February 28, the FTC announced that the operators of an alleged credit card interest rate reduction scam will be permanently banned from the debt relief industry as part of court orders resolving charges by the FTC and the Florida AG.  The FTC and Florida AG alleged that the operators engaged in deceptive and abusive practices violating the FTC Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act in selling credit card interest rate reduction services to consumers.  According to the joint complaint, the operators made telephone calls claiming to permanently and substantially reduce consumers’ credit card interest rates, posed as the consumers’ credit card company representatives or affiliates and allegedly claimed they could save consumers thousands of dollars in credit card interest and enable them to pay off their debt faster.  According to the FTC, the operators left people even deeper in debt after they paid upfront fees of between $995 and $4995, as well as substantial fees to transfer their existing debts to new cards.
Continue Reading FTC Bans Operators of Alleged Debt Relief Scam, $5.3M penalty