Performant Recovery, Inc.
On December 9, 2024, the Bureau issued an order against Performant Recovery, Inc., to address its unlawful collection activities involving student-loan borrowers who were attempting to bring their student loans out of default. Student loan borrowers who have defaulted on Federal Family Education Loan Program loans have a one-time right to rehabilitate their loans and bring their loans back into good standing by entering into a rehabilitation agreement and making a series of reasonable and affordable payments. If a borrower enters into a loan-rehabilitation agreement within 65 days of defaulting on the loan, the borrower is also not required to pay collection costs associated with the default. From 2015 to 2020, Performant used its control over the rehabilitation process to delay borrowers’ loan rehabilitations so that collection costs would be added to their loans. If borrowers in default called Performant to rehabilitate their loans within 65 days from default, Performant’s agents were instructed to do whatever they could to delay the borrowers’ rehabilitation until after 65 days had passed, allowing for the imposition of collection costs on the borrowers. Through these practices, Performant generated fees for itself while causing individual borrowers to incur thousands of dollars in additional costs added to their loan obligations. This conduct constituted unfair and abusive acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and unfair and unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect debts in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The order requires Performant to stop servicing and collecting on any student loan debt and to pay a $700,000 civil money penalty.