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Friday, July 25, 2014

The state of Illinois standing up for students

A pair of companies in that state targeted student loan borrowers in a scam promising help with college debt. Rather than providing any help with loans, the companies ripped students off for a few hundred bucks, and left them worse off financially than they were to begin with. So, the state of Illinois has filed a lawsuit against these companies for fraud, and they may not be the last state to do so. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency has issued warnings about these debt relief scams, and other states are looking in to them. These companies often pretend to be affiliated with the government, and they trick indebted students into shelling out hundreds of dollars. One company made up a completely fake program called the Obama Forgiveness Program, and other companies just offered services that borrows were entitled to for free from the federal government. It's bad enough that students are stuck with mountains of debt, but it's even worse that companies would use it as an opportunity to make a buck. Illinois is putting a stop to it, and hopefully more states will do the same.

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