Corinthian Colleges Inc. was slapped with a lawsuit from the Unites States agency for allegedly using dirty tactic in its collection and advertisement to students.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a statement that Corinthian "lured tens of thousands of students to take out private loans to cover expensive tuition costs by advertising bogus job rospects and career services." Furthermore, Corintian "then used illegal debt collection practices to strong-arm students into paying back those loans while still in school."
For the past three years, the company was able to provide around $569 million in loans to students who have less than favorable credit.
Per Corinthian Colleges, the Genesis loan program they offere as financial assistance to students who cannot afford to pay their tuition in full was used by less than 40 percent of its students and pay around $35 a month. the school encourages students to make the payments while still in school to develop self-discipline. Their Genesis loan program is also one of the topics of students' complaints.
Corinthian Colleges, one of the biggest post-secondary eductaion companies in North America offers degrees in health car, criminal justice, business, information technology, and several other categories. They also offer online degrees and has over 100 campuses throughout the United States and Canada. It was fof its unded in February 1995 by five executives at National Education Centers, Inc. Their aim was to acquire schools with good background but performing below its potential. The founders have acquired many schools since.
The company has also faced a large number of lawsuits in the past. In 2004 to 2008, several lawsuits involving students not receiving proper training and misleading of information on employment success. Those cases were ultimately dismissed by the court. In 2007 though, Corinthian Colleges agreed to pay $6.5 million as settlement for allegations of the school's false advertisements to its students although there were no findings of wrongdoing by the California Attorney General.
