[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8003-8004]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02798]
[[Page 8003]]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 182 3180]
LendEDU; Analysis To Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both
the allegations in the complaint and the terms of the consent order--
embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 13, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``LendEDU; File No. 182
3180'' on your comment, and file your comment online at https://www.regulations.gov by following the instructions on the web-based
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail your comment to
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Widor (202-326-3039), Bureau of
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC website (for February 3, 2020), at this web address:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 13, 2020.
Write ``LendEDU; File No. 182 3180'' on your comment. Your comment--
including your name and your state--will be placed on the public record
of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the
https://www.regulations.gov website.
Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online through the https://www.regulations.gov website.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``LendEDU; File
No. 182 3180'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of
the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580; or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by
courier or overnight service.
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible
website at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for
making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive or
confidential information. In particular, your comment should not
include any sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone
else's Social Security number; date of birth; driver's license number
or other state identification number, or foreign country equivalent;
passport number; financial account number; or credit or debit card
number. You are also solely responsible for making sure that your
comment does not include any sensitive health information, such as
medical records or other individually identifiable health information.
In addition, your comment should not include any ``trade secret or any
commercial or financial information which . . . is privileged or
confidential''--as provided by Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C.
46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--including in
particular competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing
processes, or customer names.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). In particular,
the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the
comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and
must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from
the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has
been posted on the public FTC website--as legally required by FTC Rule
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC website,
unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements
for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General Counsel
grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at http://www.ftc.gov to read this Notice and
the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws that the
Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to
consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate. The Commission
will consider all timely and responsive public comments that it
receives on or before March 13, 2020. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject
to final approval, an agreement containing a consent order from Shop
Tutors Inc., d/b/a LendEDU (``LendEDU'' or ``the Company''); its co-
founder and Chief Executive Officer, Nathaniel Matherson; its co-
founder and Chief Technology Officer, Matthew Lenhard; and the Vice
President of Product, Alexander Coleman (collectively, ``Proposed
Respondents'').
The proposed consent order has been placed on the public record for
thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons.
Comments received during this period will become part of the public
record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will again review the
agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should
withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final
the agreement's proposed order.
Since 2014, Respondents have operated the website www.lendedu.com,
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which they promote as a resource for consumers in search of financial
products such as loans and insurance. In numerous instances,
Respondents have described the content on the website, including their
rate tables, star ratings, and rankings of the companies offering these
financial products, as ``objective,'' ``honest,'' ``accurate,'' and
``unbiased.'' Contrary to their claims, Respondents have provided
financial services companies with higher numerical rankings or star
ratings and higher positions on rate tables based on compensation.
Respondents also have added or removed companies from their content
based on compensation.
In addition, Respondents have touted positive consumer reviews
about their company and website that, in fact, were written by LendEDU
employees or their friends, family members, and associates. Of 126
reviews of LendEDU on the third-party review platform Trustpilot, 90%
were written or made up by LendEDU employees or their family, friends,
or other associates. Respondents also have reposted and touted the
Trustpilot reviews on LendEDU's website, as well as fake reviews
written by LendEDU employees who purport to be, but are not, actual
users.
The proposed order will prevent Proposed Respondents from engaging
in similar acts or practices. Part I would prohibit Proposed
Respondents from making the challenged and related misrepresentations.
Part II would require Proposed Respondents to disclose the influence of
compensation on representations made on its website and to disclose
material connections among the Proposed Respondents and the various
parties represented on the website. Part III would require Proposed
Respondents, jointly and severally, to pay to the Commission $350,000
within 8 days of the effective date of the Order.
Part IV sets out additional requirements related to the monetary
relief. Part V requires Proposed Respondents to provide sufficient
customer information to enable the Commission to efficiently administer
consumer redress. Part VI is an order distribution provision that
requires Proposed Respondents to provide the order to current and
future principals, officers, directors, and LLC managers and members,
as well as current and future managers, agents and representatives who
participate in certain duties related to the subject matter of the
proposed complaint and order, and to secure statements acknowledging
receipt of the order. Part VII requires Proposed Respondents to submit
a compliance report one year after the order is entered. It also
requires Proposed Respondents to notify the Commission of corporate
changes that may affect compliance obligations within 14 days of such a
change.
Part VIII requires Proposed Respondents to maintain and upon
request make available certain compliance-related records, including
accounting records and unique websites. Part IX requires Proposed
Respondents to submit additional compliance reports within 10 business
days of a written request by the Commission. Part X is a provision
``sunsetting'' the order after twenty (20) years, with certain
exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to aid public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify in any
way the proposed order's terms.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-02798 Filed 2-11-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P