The following is a press release from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office submitted to SOURCE media.
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BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced today, July 30, a Nevada-based debt buyer will discharge hundreds of thousands of dollars of loans made to Massachusetts students to finance expensive and ineffective online study materials and educational services.
Under the terms of an assurance of discontinuance, Troy Capital, LLC will discharge approximately $298,000 in loan debt Massachusetts students made in connection with their purchases from The College Network, Inc., a for profit company that provided online study guides and education services to students.
Troy Capital will also provide approximately $70,600 to the Commonwealth to be used to provide additional refunds to certain borrowers, and Troy Capital will request the removal of any negative loan information from the students’ credit reports. The AG’s Office will contact individuals eligible for relief under this settlement.
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“Borrowers who are misled by for-profit education companies should not be buried in debt because of high cost, low quality education services,” said AG Healey. “With this settlement, Massachusetts students who were harmed will receive the relief they need.”
The AG’s Office alleges that between January 2010 and May 2016, The College Network misled students by representing that its educational materials would help them pass equivalency exams and earn college credit in fields such as nursing and healthcare administration. The company’s salespeople often arranged for students to obtain financing from certain credit unions. In some instances, the credit unions sold the loans to other entities. Troy Capital, a debt buyer, purchased a portfolio of these loans.
The AG’s Office previously reached settlements with two credit unions, We Florida Financial and Southeast Financial Credit Union, which extended credit to The College Network’s consumers, and MSW Capital, another debt buyer that purchased a portfolio of The College Network Loans.
To date, AG Healey has secured more than $1.7 million in loan relief for Massachusetts consumers of The College Network. The College Network became insolvent and was administratively dissolved in 2017.
Individuals with questions about this settlement or complaints about The College Network, Inc. may contact the Attorney General’s Student Loan Assistance Unit at 1-888-830-6277 or file a complaint at www.mass.gov/ago/studentloans.
This matter is being handled by Assistant Attorney General David Lim of Attorney General Healey’s Insurance and Financial Services Division.
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