Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sues for-profit college company over student lending
Source: McClatchy
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing ITT Educational Services Inc. of predatory lending to college students.
Its the first time the CFPB has taken action against a for-profit college company. ITT has some 150 post-secondary technical schools across the country, including some in Charlotte, Miami, Kansas City and many other places in some 35 states.
ITT marketed itself as improving consumers lives but it was really just improving its bottom line, CFPB director Richard Corday said. We believe ITT used high-pressure tactics to push many consumers into expensive loans destined to default. Todays action should serve as a warning to the for-profit college industry that we will be vigilant about protecting students against predatory lending tactics.
.......
The agency said that many students borrow federal loans, but theyre not enough to cover ITT tuition. It said the school provided zero-interest loans for one year, called a Temporary Credit, that had to be paid in full at the end of the students first academic year. The lawsuit alleges that ITT pushed its students into repaying their Temporary Credit and funding their second-year tuition gaps through high-cost private student loan programs. The suit said that ITT rushed students through an automated application process without helping them understand the loan obligations involved.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/02/26/219479/consumer-financial-protection.html
mike_c
(36,281 posts)eom
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)eggplant
(3,911 posts)They really are just sucking at the student loan teat, and don't give a damn about their students. Faculty were told to do anything they could to keep the students enrolled until a certain point in the semester, so the school didn't have to give back the student loan money.
Assholes.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)was coined to describe ITT. The history of this evil corporation is truly jaw dropping, especially as pertains to its war businesses. That it is involved in higher education in any capacity should be a crime. The world would be a better place had ITT never existed and will be a better place when it is gone.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)but there's too much money for it to go away without people going to jail, and I don't see that here.
Too bad. I suspect a group of people, pooling a few thousand dollars, could get through that entire curriculum in 6-8 months.
With the advent of virtual machines, lots of cheap but good laptops on ebay, a linode account or something, etc, a small cooperative could very likely compete with them at a very high level for not much money.
The disadvantage is that even if you could do it for 10% of what ITT charges, (heard it was $40 grand over two years?) they could not get loans to help themselves out. If they weren't employed they would at least have a chance to avoid a loan following them into retirement. Still, there are likely ways...
I think they ought to change the name of the program from Student Loans" to "School Loans", at least highlight those who gain the surest benefit from the conspiracy to profit from what there should be no profit in.
But I digress
freshwest
(53,661 posts)SunSeeker
(51,554 posts)BTW, I wish McClatchy would learn to spell Cordray's name. It's Cordray, not "Corday." I'm sure ITT will learn his name very quickly.