If you were one of the more than 23,000 people who were charged unlawful advance fees by five student loan debt-relief companies—Docu Prep Center d/b/a Certified Document Center, Certified Doc Prep Services, Assure Direct Services, Direct Document Solutions, and Secure Preparation Services—that were associated with Monster Loans and Lend Tech Loans, you may receive a check in the mail starting December 12, 2022. Payments will be sent from Epiq Systems.
If you have questions related to the case, you can call 1-877-899-2926 or email info@cfpb-monsterloans.org.
Number of consumers impacted
23,505
Total distribution amount
$19,696,107.70
The CFPB’s lawsuit alleged that, between 2015 and 2017, five student loan debt-relief companies—Docu Prep Center d/b/a Certified Document Center, Certified Doc Prep Services, Assure Direct Services, Direct Document Solutions, and Secure Preparation Services—violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) by making deceptive representations about their services. Specifically, the CFPB alleged that the companies misrepresented to consumers that their interest rates would be reduced, their credit scores would improve, and that the U.S. Department of Education would become their servicer. The lawsuit also alleged that the five companies violated the TSR by unlawfully collecting advance fees for debt relief services. In addition, the five companies and two associated mortgage companies—Monster Loans and Lend Tech Loans—violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by marketing debt-relief services to millions of consumers using credit report information that was illegally obtained from a nationwide credit reporting company.
The court entered a default judgment in favor of the CFPB and against the five student loan debt-relief companies on May 7, 2021. The court also entered stipulated final judgments against Monster Loans, Lend Tech Loans, and several other defendants.
Read more about the lawsuit
Monitor payment distribution
Obtaining consumer redress is a top priority in any enforcement action, and when the CFPB enforces the law, we or a court may require the person or company to compensate its victims for this harm by providing consumer redress out of its own funds. In certain circumstances, when the person or company doesn’t have sufficient funds, however, the CFPB uses a victims relief fund—also known as the Civil Penalty Fund—to compensate victims who haven’t received full compensation for their harm through redress paid by the defendant in their case. Learn more about the victims relief fund and other distributions.
The CFPB will never ask you for money to process victim compensation. Learn how to make sure that a check from the CFPB is real.
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