The Fate Of "Educators" and the FTC

[Bill Gulley]

Since the Fair Trade Amendment Act 2013, the FTC is getting more involved with real estate transaction, advertising, brokering activities and pricing of services as well as other areas.

 https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/1...          

Seems we also have some "educator" issues, this on one teaching how to.....

She gets a $877,000+ fine! 

How do you see "educators" fairing in teaching deceptive practices? Any thoughts?

Might be time for the gurus to pay close attention!  :)

[Dev Horn]

This has very little applicability to REI education gurus who primarily teach "wholesaling". 

This case specifically had to do with offering "mortgage relief services":

Before providing any services, however, Wealth Educators charged consumers an up-front fee ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, promising the money would be fully refunded if the company didn’t provide the relief it promised. On its website, Wealth Educators claimed it was “America’s Leading Home Preservation Legal Services,” saying that they “. . . act on behalf of homeowners to work with your lender and avoid the lengthy and costly process of foreclosure and the stressful act of eviction that follows…”.

Unfortunately, according to the complaint, while Wealth Educators told many consumers they could get them a loan modification, typically through a government-sponsored program, and even quoted a specific amount consumers’ mortgage payments would be reduced, the company often did not provide the promised relief services. In addition, the company told consumers to stop communicating with their lenders, delaying them from discovering that Wealth Educators had not obtained the promised mortgage relief. Finally, while promising a “100% refund” of the service fee if it did not provide the promised mortgage relief services, consumers who tried to get their money back could not do so.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/201...

What you see above is simply illegal - it's not what the REI gurus teach (dean, scott & amy, dave & pete, blah blah blah). This is old news, IMHO. MANY companies have gotten hammered for this mortgage/foreclosure relief stuff since 2008.