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• Government Actions:

  Government Action: BBB reports on known government actions involving business’ marketplace conduct:

  Consent Order
  

  The following describes a government action that has been resolved by either a settlement or a decision by a court or administrative agency. If the matter is being appealed, it will be noted below.

  On October 18, 2023, NJ Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division of Consumer Affairs (“Division”) announced a $4.6 million settlement with a Middlesex County for-profit school and its founder and president that resolves allegations that the school used false and misleading job advertisements to funnel students into its high-cost information technology (“IT”) programs and falsely claimed that Income Share Agreements (“ISAs”) requiring students to pledge a portion of their future income in exchange for upfront money to pay for the programs were not loans and would not create debt.
  
  Sollers, Inc., doing business as Sollers Education, LLC, (collectively “Sollers”) reached separate settlements with the Division and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to resolve the agencies’ concurrent investigations into consumer complaints related to educational programs offered by Sollers.
  
  The consumer complaints generally alleged that consumers applied for jobs in response to online employment postings for IT positions on sites like indeed.com and received a response from Sollers that the consumers needed to complete an IT training program in order to be eligible for the position. Sollers advised the consumers that they must pay the $15,000 cost of the training program via an ISA, but assured consumers that a job was essentially guaranteed at the end of the program, according to the complaints. Consumers alleged that no employment was obtained at the end of the program they completed with Sollers.
  
  Pursuant to the settlements with the Division and the FTC, Sollers will cancel a total of approximately $3.4 million in student debt tied to the Sollers ISAs. Of the nearly 400 students nationwide whose debt will be erased under the settlements, more than 60 are New Jersey residents.
  
  The New Jersey settlement, which includes Sollers’ founder and president Siba Padhi, also includes a $1.2 million civil penalty, prohibits Sollers and Padhi from issuing ISAs to any students in relation to any of their programs, and permanently enjoins them from attempting to collect any debt owed to Sollers pursuant to ISAs – including all unpaid interest and fees related to that debt – whether possessed by Sollers, a collection agency, or other party. Within 10 days of the settlement, Sollers and Padhi must direct collection agencies and other parties to cease attempts to collect the debt and direct credit reporting agencies to delete the debt from students’ credit reporting file. Any student debt payments received by Sollers or Padhi after the entry of the settlement must be returned to the payee within 10 days.

  Under the FTC stipulated order, the for-profit is prohibited from falsely advertising any educational product or service. The order also prohibits the company from denying access to diplomas or transcripts based on any debt forgiven by the proposed order.

  Specifically, Sollers must:

  • stop collecting debts from students on any income-share agreements it currently holds;
  • re-purchase any income share agreements it sold to third parties to stop collection efforts on those agreements;
  • request that consumer reporting agencies delete the debt from consumers’ credit reports;
  • and provide written notification to consumers who are receiving debt forgiveness under the proposed order.

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