On this episode of the Ballard Spahr Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast, we examine consumer debt and bankruptcy through the lens of Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy (University of California Press, 2025), by Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless, and Deborah Thorne.

Based on decades of research from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, the nation’s most comprehensive study of bankruptcy filers, Debt’s Grip goes beyond aggregate data to document the lived experience of financial distress.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has taken action to permanently ban Student Loan Pro and its owner, Judith Noh, from offering consumer financial products or services.

In a complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the CFPB alleged that Student Loan Pro and Noh violated federal law when they charged borrowers upfront fees to file paperwork to access free debt-relief programs available to consumers with federal student loans.… Continue Reading

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently entered into proposed stipulations with a group of student loan debt relief providers to resolve allegations that the group conducted deceptive marketing and sales practices in collecting over $8 million in “junk fees” for nonexistent debt relief services.

Last August, the FTC filed a complaint against Express Enrollment LLC (d/b/a SLFD Processing), Intercontinental Solutions LLC (d/b/a Apex Doc Processing LLC), and their operators Marco Manzi, Ivan Esquivel, and Robert Kissinger alleging violations of the unfair or deceptive acts or practices (“UDAP”) prohibitions of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act , the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”), and Section 521 of the Gramm Leach Bliley Act, which prohibits obtaining a person’s financial information by making false statements, in connection with their deceptive marketing and sale of student loan debt relief services.… Continue Reading

On January 24, 2024, Pennsylvania Attorney General, Michelle Henry announced a settlement with attorney Erik M. Helbing and his businesses Helbing Law, LLC, and Consumer Law Relief, LLC. (Respondents) to resolve alleged violations of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL), the Pennsylvania Debt Settlement Services Act (DSSA), and the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).… Continue Reading