On 2/11/2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that they are banning the owners and operators of a vast payday lending scheme that overcharged consumers millions of dollars. The settlement also wipes out almost all of the outstanding debt owed to the entity as this debt was made up entirely of illegal finance charges. The organization operated online under the names Harvest Moon Financial, Gentle Breeze Online, and Green Stream Lending.
In their release, the FTC explained that the scheme used deceptive marketing to convince consumers that their loans would be repaid in a fixed number of payments. The FTC’s complaint alleged that the company instead continued to draw millions of dollars in payments from consumers’ bank accounts long after the loans’ original principal amount and stated repayment cost had been repaid, and would do so until consumers completely closed their bank accounts or found some other way to cut off payments.
The FTC press release can be found here.
The FTC’s complaint can be found here.
