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• Pending Government Action:

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

  CFPB Sues United Holding Group, Its Affiliates, and Its Owners for Illegal Debt Collection Practices
  

  The following describes a pending government action that has been formally brought by a government agency but has not yet been resolved. We are providing a summary of the government’s allegations, which have not yet been proven.

  January 10, 2022 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today sued United Debt Holding (UDH), JTM Capital Management (JTM), United Holding Group (UHG), and their owners, Craig Manseth, Jacob Adamo, and Darren Turco, for illegal debt-collection practices. The Bureau alleges that the defendants placed consumer debt with, or sold consumer debt to, collection companies that used unlawful and deceptive collection tactics. The defendants knew, or should have known, the collection companies made false threats and false statements to consumers. And although some of the defendants have been the subject of prior enforcement action, they continued their unlawful practices.

  The defendants allegedly harmed consumers by:
  
  Allowing third parties to deceive consumers: UHG, UDH, and JTM and their owners were aware some of their third-party collection companies were deceiving consumers through false and misleading statements. The defendants received hundreds of complaints that their collection companies were threatening arrest, jail, or lawsuits if consumers did not pay their debts imminently. The defendants also received recorded phone calls in which some of their third-party collection companies falsely threatened suits or made false statements about credit reporting. The defendants continued to place debt with and sell debt to these companies, allowing them to continue to collect on consumer debt after receiving evidence of their violations. As a result, some of the third-party companies continued making false threats and misleading statements for years when collecting on debt they received from the defendants.

  Placing debt with and selling debt to collection companies engaged in unlawful behavior: UHG, UDH, and JTM and their owners substantially assisted third-party collection companies engaged in deceptive conduct. The defendants knew or should have known the third-party debt collection companies were making false statements to consumers. For example, from 2015 through January 2017, UDH’s compliance staff reviewed recorded phone calls from JTM’s collection companies and found that many contained major violations of federal law. Instead of terminating its relationship with JTM, UDH increased the amount of business it sent to JTM. By 2017, UDH was using JTM almost exclusively for debt placements despite objections by UDH’s compliance manager. For more details go to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's press release.

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