| Volume 137 Number 10 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
The most dangerous scams today involve counterfeit cashier's, bank, or certified checks. Don't ever give someone you don't know anything in exchange for a check until your bank tells you in writing the check has been "finally paid." Click here for more.
Regulators propose $183M settlement with student loan firm
Federal regulators have proposed a $183.3 million settlement with a student loan company that authorities allege engaged in predatory lending practices. The CFPB filed a lawsuit and settlement against Aequitas Capital Management, a private equity fund that purchased or funded $230 million in loans to students at Corinthian Colleges. Corinthian was a private college that went out of business in 2015 on allegations of fraud. Under the proposed settlement, Aequitas would forgive $183.3 million in loans or reduce the size of the loans. Approximately 41,000 students could be eligible for the settlement.
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Your Money
4 reasons you should never, ever take a 401(k) loan: (1) If you can't pay it back, you get hit with a big tax bill; (2) You'll be stuck in your job or forced to pay back the loan early; (3) You'll miss out on the earnings your investments would have generated; and (4) Taxes and fees will cost you. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Data breach case holds up under “Spokeo.” The D.C. Circuit revived a putative class action brought by policyholders against CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield over a 2014 data breach, finding that the alleged heightened risk of identity theft and medical fraud was enough to establish standing under the high court’s landmark Spokeo decision. The court found plaintiffs had established concrete harm, stating, “an unauthorized party has already accessed personally identifying data on CareFirst’s servers, and it is much less speculative — at the very least, it is plausible — to infer that this party has both the intent and the ability to use that data for ill.” Attias v. CareFirst Inc., (D.D.C. 2017). Click here for more.