Consumers Affected
443,048
The FTC is distributing over $10.9 million in refunds to 443,048 consumers harmed by Financial Education Services (FES), a credit repair pyramid scheme that defrauded consumers through false promises of credit score fixes and illegal pyramid recruitment. The refunds follow a 2024 settlement with FES and its owners that banned them from fraudulent practices and required turnover of funds for consumer restitution.
Settlement requires FES and its owners to permanently end fraudulent credit repair and pyramid scheme practices, turn over funds to provide $10.9 million in refunds to 443,048 affected consumers, and imposes permanent bans on the owners from operating credit repair or similar services.
In-house legal teams should review all vendor agreements with financial service providers, particularly credit repair, debt relief, or consumer finance vendors, to ensure they prohibit pyramid scheme structures, false advertising of service outcomes, and unauthorized recruitment of customers as independent salespeople. Contracts should include explicit refund and restitution clauses, termination rights for fraudulent conduct, and representations warranties against deceptive marketing practices. For agreements with individual owners or operators, include non-compete and ban provisions aligned with regulatory restrictions on future participation in similar industries.
Entity
Financial Education Services (FES) d/b/a United Wealth Education, United Credit Education Services, Youth Financial Literacy Foundation
Industry
Financial Services"a credit repair operation known by multiple names including Financial Education Services (FES), United Wealth Education, United Credit Education Services, and Youth Financial Literacy Foundation"
"The FTC secured settlements with FES and its owners and operators in 2024"
"443,048 affected customers"
"preyed on consumers with low credit scores by luring them in with the false promise of an easy fix to their credit score and then recruiting them to join a pyramid scheme selling the credit repair services to others"
"requiring them to end their fraudulent practices and turn over funds for injured consumers"
"permanent bans for scammers behind sprawling credit repair pyramid scheme"
The FTC settled charges with data broker Kochava, Inc. and its subsidiary Collective Data Solutions (CDS) over allegations that they sold precise location data from hundreds of millions of mobile devices without consumer consent, enabling tracking of visits to sensitive locations like reproductive health clinics and places of worship. The settlement prohibits the companies from selling or sharing sensitive location data without affirmative express consumer consent, and imposes compliance requirements including a sensitive location data program, supplier consent assessments, incident reporting, and data retention schedules. No monetary penalty was imposed.
The FTC filed a complaint and obtained a temporary restraining order against six defendants operating a deceptive health care scheme that impersonated government and insurance carriers to sell fake comprehensive health plans. The defendants allegedly charged consumers without express informed consent, failed to disclose material terms including cancellation processes, and misled consumers into paying for inadequate coverage that left many with substantial medical debt. The FTC seeks refunds for affected consumers and alleges violations of the FTC Act, Telemarketing Sales Rule, Impersonation Rule, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
$140.0M
Following an FTC investigation, a federal court granted summary judgment against timeshare exit scheme operator Christopher Carroll, ordering him to pay $140 million total ($95 million in consumer redress, $45 million civil penalty) for defrauding consumers out of over $90 million. The scheme used deceptive direct mail and in-person pitches, falsely claimed affiliation with timeshare companies, failed to provide refunds, and violated the FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule by forcing consumers to sign non-cancellable contracts. Carroll is also permanently banned from marketing timeshare exit services or engaging in deceptive door-to-door sales.
This press release announces the FTC's testimony before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on April 15, 2026, outlining the agency's priorities including consumer privacy protection, competition enforcement, and implementation of the TAKE IT DOWN Act. No specific enforcement action against a private entity is announced in this release.
The FTC announced an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking public comment on a potential nationwide rule to address unfair or deceptive fee practices by online food and grocery delivery platforms. The ANPRM covers requirements for disclosing total prices, fees, variable charges, price differentials, and promotion terms. Past FTC enforcement actions against Instacart and Grubhub for deceptive fee practices are cited as evidence of ongoing issues in the industry.
$868K
The FTC announced three separate settlements with companies making false 'Made in USA' claims: TouchTunes (electronic dartboards, $625k consumer redress), Americana Liberty and related parties (flags and flagpoles, $167,743 redress), and Oak Street Bootmakers (footwear, $75k redress). The companies violated the FTC Act, Made in USA Labeling Rule, and for Americana Liberty, the Textile Act and Rules, by making unqualified origin claims for products with significant imported components or wholly imported from China. Each settlement prohibits future misrepresentations of U.S. origin and requires consumer notices.