CFPB Distributes $22 Million to Consumers Harmed by Debt Relief Scam

The CFPB will distribute approximately $22 million to consumers who were falsely promised that their credit card debt would be eliminated and that their credit scores would be improved.

In a Press Release, the CFPB said that the payment to consumers follows a 2021 Stipulated Final Judgement and Order from the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Burlington Financial Group, a "debt-relief and credit-repair company" that marketed and sold debt-relief and credit-repair services between January 2016 and September 2019. The company and its executives settled charges for failing "to produce any evidence showing that it had invalidated, eliminated, or lowered any of its customers’ debts," or that "it could restore their credit scores", as advertised. As a result, the CFPB’s investigation found that the company violated consumer financial protection law by, among other things, using "deceptive marketing and operating practices."