Attorney General’s complaint list now includes student loan debt
Chronicle Media — March 16, 2016
Identity theft is a major crime on the rise in Illinois.
Consumer debt and identity theft ranked as the top concerns among Illinois consumers in the last year according to a list of the Top 10 consumer complaint released last week by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Another pervasive issue has made the list for the first time—education-related complaints as student borrowers grapple with mounting student loan debt, issues with loan servicers and predatory for-profit schools.
“Unfortunately students who are saddled with crushing debt and who have been misled from achieving their goals submit regular complaints to my office,”Madigan said. “Too many students are unable to build the futures they worked so hard to achieve, and my office will continue to combat the many scams targeting these students.”
For the eighth year in a row, consumer debt ranked as the top complaint among the 25,094 her office received in 2015.
Some 3,350 complaints involving issues such as mortgage lending, abusive debt collection practices and predatory payday loans. Number two on the list also for the eighth year in a row is identity theft, with 2,636 complaints.
Education-related complaints now rank seventh, reflecting the growing student loan debt crisis.
Madigan has taken extensive and aggressive action to help student borrowers as estimates show approximately 40 million Americans hold $1.2 trillion in student loan debt. In fact, according to National Public Radio, “more people have more student loan debt than at any time in history,” and “average student loan debt has tripled since the mid-1990s.”
As those numbers increase, Madigan was the first attorney general in the country to crack down on a new industry of student loan debt relief scams, and last week announced she has filed her eighth lawsuit against a student loan relief scam operator.
Madigan’s lawsuit against Lombard-based National Student Loan Rescue, LLC (NSLR) and Gregory Kewin, one of NSLR’s principals, alleges numerous violations of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act.
The lawsuit alleges that NSLR charges high upfront fees for little more than document preparation services. Despite advertising wide-ranging services, such as the ability to get student loans out of default, remove wage garnishments, lower monthly payments and secure loan forgiveness, Madigan alleges NSLR’s services amount to little more than applying for federal student loan consolidation, an application process that is already available to borrowers for free from the U.S. Department of Education.
Madigan’s annual top 10 list of consumer complaints ranks every complaint her office receives on a range of topics.
In total, Madigan’s Consumer Fraud Bureau achieved more than $12 million in savings for Illinois consumers in 2015. In addition to consumer debt, identity theft and education-related complaints, Madigan noted other categories that topped her list of complaints involved telecommunications and home repairs.
The top 10:
- Consumer Debt (mortgages, collection agencies, banks), 3,350 complaints.
- Identity Theft (government document fraud, credit cards, utilities, data breaches), 2,636 complaints.
- Telecommunications (telemarketing, cable and satellite TV, phone service and repairs, cell phones), 2,188 complaints.
- Construction/Home Improvement (remodeling, roofs and gutters, heating and cooling, plumbing), 2,167 complaints.
- Used Auto Sales/Motor Vehicles (as-is used cars, financing, warranties), 1,835 complaints.
- Promotions/Schemes (phone scams, investment schemes, lottery scams, phishing), 1,813 complaints.
- Education (for-profit schools, student loan debt, loan counseling), 1,523 complaints.
- Internet/Mail Order Products (Internet and catalog purchases, TV and radio advertising), 1,019 complaints.
- Fraud Against Business (consulting services, equipment leasing, directories and publications), 726 complaints.
- Motor Vehicle/Non-Warranty Repair (collision, engines, oil changes and tune-ups), 714 complaints.
SUB consumer complaints
