The victims of a debt relief scam will soon be receiving checks from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
According to a press release, FTC is mailing 561 checks totaling more than $148,000 to people who lost money to Payday Support Center. The recipients will receive an average of $264 and are urged to deposit or cash the checks within 60 days.
Payday Support Center was a debt relief scheme that targeted people with outstanding payday loans. In Feb. 2015, the FTC filed a complaint against Jared Irby, Richard Hughes, Coastal Acquisitions LLC and PSC Administrative LLC, accusing them of falsely promising to resolve consumers’ payday loans through their hardship program. They did business under Payday Support Center and Infinity Client Solutions.
Consumers paid hundreds of dollars for the company’s services, and, once enrolled, they stopped making payments to their lenders. But the defendants never provided any actual relief. As a result, the victims got into deeper financial trouble.
Two stipulated final orders by the FTC banned the defendants from promoting or selling debt relief services. In addition, each order imposes a judgment of more than $23.7 million that will be partially suspended when Irby and the corporate defendants pay $149,537, and Hughes pays $8,037.26.
