Money & Credit

Back in February, we wrote about Online Trading Academy (OTA), a company that peddled a “patented” training program promising to help people earn big money by paying big money to OTA for trainings costing as much as $50,000. OTA’s lavish earnings claims often came with encouragement for people to go into debt to pay for OTA’s trainings. Today, we’re letting you know about a settlement that could mean big bucks in debt forgiveness for some people who owe consumer debts to OTA.

Are you married to someone who owes past-due child support? Was your portion of the economic impact payment (“EIP”) mistakenly applied to pay your spouse’s debt? If so, you’re not alone. In mid-September, the IRS will automatically send “catch-up” payments to eligible spouses whose EIP was diverted to pay their spouses’ child support obligations.

Celebrities are often used to market products or services, but sometimes they’re used to lure consumers into a scam. And that’s what the FTC alleges happened when two real estate celebrities joined forces with Nudge – a company (and its owners) that the FTC and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection (“Division”) sued in November of 2019 for deceptively selling training programs and other products to aspiring real estate investors.

As part of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers from sellers of scam COVID-19 treatments, the FTC has sent 20 more warning letters to companies that claim their products can prevent, treat or cure the COVID-19. Claims for zappers, virus-busting cards, sage, oregano, and bay leaves are among the representations called into question in the latest round of warning letters.