FTC Mails Refund Checks for Three Different Settlements

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The FTC recently announced that it is mailing checks to consumers affected by three different enforcement actions.

The payment distributions benefit persons affected by scams involving business coaching, mortgage assistance, and a high school equivalency program.

More than $2.2 million is on the way to persons who lost money to a telemarketing scam that made fraudulent offers of business coaching.

According to the FTC, Utah-based Guidance or its predecessor Thrive Learning used third-party telemarketers to pitch a coaching program that would teach the victim how to set up and run their own online business.

Telemarketers lured victims into revealing their personal and financial status, under the guise of screening them to see if they were “qualified.” The telemarketers allegedly used that information to fine-tune their sales pitch. Victims were encouraged to purchase the program using their credit card, sometimes at a cost of over $10,000.

Most victims got no coaching at all, the FTC says. Those who did allegedly received information about online auctions and payment systems that is readily available for free on eBay.

In addition to making payments and handing over assets, Guidance and telemarketing firms Discover and PLI must submit to lifetime bans on selling business coaching or work-at-home opportunities.

Other business names implicated in the scheme include Professional Learning Institute, Pinnacle Learning Institute, Advantage Education, and Discover Education.

Checks from the business coaching settlement are now on the way to known victims. Each check is worth $295. Questions about this settlement can be directed to the settlement administrator at 855-225-1885.

Another recent FTC settlement will refund $533,000 to victims of a mortgage relief scheme run by a company called A to Z Marketing.

The FTC accused A to Z Marketing and a long list of other defendants of fraudulently promising to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and lower their mortgage payments. The defendants allegedly charged victims up-front fees between $2,500 and $3,500. Few victims ever received the help they paid for.

The defendants allegedly made false offers of other financial services, including bankruptcy and credit counseling and “forensic mortgage audits” that promised to uncover actionable violations of lending laws by the victim’s mortgage servicer.

Other business names used in conjunction with the mortgage assistance scheme were William Goodrich, Apex Members, Top Legal Advocates, and Evergreen Law Offices, according to the FTC.

The average check amount from the mortgage assistance settlement is $619.24. Any questions about this settlement can be directed to the settlement administrator at 877-506-4034.

In a third FTC distribution announced this month, persons who signed up for a bogus high school equivalency program will receive a total of $216,000 in refunds. This settlement results from an action taken against Stratford Career Institute, which allegedly offered a program that didn’t meet several states’ basic educational requirements.

Stratford allegedly assured consumers that completing its program would be just as valuable as having a high school diploma. The company claimed its program could lead to better-paying employment and admission to educational institutions that required a high school diploma.

But persons who took the program at a cost of as much as $989 reported it failed to pass muster with employers and community colleges. The program allegedly failed to meet the minimum requirement for total credit hours and mandatory classes in several states, the FTC says.

Questions about the Stratford Career Institute refund can be directed to the refund administrator at 844-402-8577.

The FTC encourages check recipients in all three of these settlements to cash their checks within 60 days. The agency reminds consumers that it will never ask them to pay money or provide information to cash refund checks. Any such solicitation could be the mark of a scam.

UPDATE: December 2018, money still remains in the Pinnacle Learning Institute settlement so a second round of checks worth $56.97 each are being mailed out to 6,307 consumers.

UPDATE 2: April 2019, the FTC mailed another round of checks totaling more than $28,000 to victims of the Stratford Career Institute scam.