Under the settlement, the company agreed to stop committing deceptive and unfair business practices and to comply with all provisions of the Consumer Protection Law and Federal Truth in Lending Act.
Additionally, Equitable Acceptance also agreed that it is permanently banned from financing student loan debt relief services in Pennsylvania.
Furthermore, the company agreed to cancel any debt from Pennsylvania borrowers. It is prohibited from attempting to collect, collecting, or assigning any right to collect payment from any Pennsylvania borrower on any debt or extension of credit related to the purchase of student loan debt relief services.
Moreover, Equitable Acceptance agreed to delete all debts reported to credit reporting agencies from the Pennsylvania borrowers’ credit reporting.
Finally, the company agreed to pay Pennsylvania a total of $930,000 in civil penalties and costs for public protection and educational purposes.
Shapiro taking aggressive action against abuses in the student loan industry
In a statement, Attorney General Shapiro said, “Equitable Acceptance scammed people who were simply trying to pay down their student loans, and today we’ve kicked them out of Pennsylvania and canceled hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for Pennsylvanians.”
