Performance SLC, LLC, Performance Settlement, LLC and Daniel Crenshaw
On November 5, 2020, the Bureau filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Central District of California against Performance SLC, LLC (PSLC), a California debt-relief business focused on federal student loan debt; Performance Settlement, LLC (PSettlement), a California debt-settlement company; and Daniel Crenshaw, the owner and CEO of the two companies. The Bureau alleged that: PSLC and Crenshaw conducted a student-loan debt-relief business that charged thousands of consumers with federal student-loan debt approximately $9.2 million in illegal upfront fees in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), to file paperwork on their behalf to apply for programs that were available to them for free from the United States Department of Education; PSLC failed to provide disclosures mandated by the TSR to consumers it required to place funds in trust accounts; Crenshaw and PSettlement used deceptive sales tactics to sign consumers up for PSettlement’s debt-relief services, in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA); and Crenshaw substantially assisted PSLC in requesting or receiving fees illegally and PSettlement in engaging in deceptive acts and practices.
On July 6, 2021, the Bureau filed an amended complaint adding a claim against PSettlement alleging it violated the TSR and CFPA when it asked consumers who enrolled in its program to sign a form that preauthorized PSettlement to agree to settlements on the consumer’s behalf.
On April 29 2022, the Bureau filed a proposed stipulated judgment and order, which the court entered the same day. The order permanently bans PSLC from debt-relief services; bans Crenshaw from debt-relief services for five years; and permanently enjoins PSettlement from obtaining referrals from companies purporting to make or arrange loans. The order requires Crenshaw to pay a civil money penalty of $30,000, and the companies to pay $1 penalties each, based on their demonstrated inability to pay. It imposes a monetary judgment for redress of $10,448,467.90 for consumers harmed by PSLC and $704,350.30 for consumers harmed by PSettlement. This judgment will be suspended, conditioned on the defendants’ payment of the civil money penalty, among other things, and based on the defendants’ demonstrated inability to pay.
Related documents
Stipulated Final Judgment and Order