Civil Penalty Fund

You could be eligible to receive a payment through the Civil Penalty Fund if:

• You were harmed by an unlawful activity where a fine was imposed in a CFPB case.
• You won’t otherwise receive full compensation from the wrongdoer.

Payments from the Civil Penalty Fund depend on the amount of money available in the fund as well as other factors.

Read the rule that governs the fund

If you’re a victim in a case brought by the CFPB, you can refer to the Payments by Case page to see which payment distributions are currently in process. You can click the case name to find out who to contact about whether you’ll receive a payment.

If the case isn’t listed on that page, the distribution process may not have begun, and you can check back for future updates.

In accordance with the Civil Penalty Fund rule, the Bureau allocated the following amounts to the eligible classes of victims in the following cases and to consumer education and financial literacy programs:

November 29, 2023

Driver Loan $2,863,648

Tempoe LLC $192,259,616

Lexington Law - Class A $1,725,937,273

Lexington Law - Class B $19,000,000

May 30, 2023

All American Check Cashing $8,231,553

RD Legal Funding, LLC $1,403,496

November 29, 2022

BounceBack, Inc., et al. $1,481,773

Frank Ronald Gebase, Jr. $240,995

Performance SLC, LLC, et al. $10,950,818

Hello Digit, LLC $38,220

Think Finance, LLC, et al. $384,010,544

Future Income Payments LLC, et al. $11,086,434

May 27, 2022

Access Funding, et al. $28,409,957

LendUp Loans $39,833,927

BrightSpeed Solutions, Inc $54,000,000

Nov. 29, 2021

College Financial Advisory $4,738,028

Yorba Capital Management, LLC, et al. $860,000

Burlington Financial Group, LLC, et al. $30,406,599

Chou Team Realty, et al. $18,833,119

May 30, 2021

SMART Payment Plan, LLC $6,000,000.00

Katharine Snyder, et al $3,864,000.00

U.S. Equity Advantage $8,400,000.00

Nationstar Mortgage LLC $1,210.57

Omni Financial of Nevada, Inc. $79,437,226.51

Nov. 27, 2020

Main Street Personal Finance, Inc.  $1,540,517

Certified Forensic Loan Auditors, LLC; et al.  $3,000,000

Timemark Solutions, Inc., et al.  $3,762,360

GST Factoring, Inc., et al.  $11,718,432

Premier Student Loan Center, et al. $89,366,096

May 30, 2020

Edmiston Marketing, LLC, d/b/a Easy Military Travel  $3,468,224

Universal Debt & Payment Solutions, LLC, et al. (Bagga)  $4,627,774

Nov. 29, 2019

Universal Debt & Payment Solutions, LLC; et al.  $558,674 

Andrew Gamber, Voyager Financial Group, LLC, BAIC, Inc., and SoBell Corp.  $2,700,000

May 30, 2019

Mark Corbett  $9,027,895

Howard Law  $35,206,275

Nov. 29, 2018

Federal Debt Assistance Association, LLC, et al.  $4,972,389

Triton Management GRoup, Inc.  $1,022,298

Richard F. Moseley, Sr., et al. ("Hydra Group")  $69,623,528

May 18, 2018

Commercial Credit Consultants, et al.  $9,149,286

Prime Marketing Holdings, LLC  $6,149,407

Nov. 29, 2017

The Mortgage Law Group, LLP $18,331,737

Commercial Credit Consultants, et al. $21,500,716

Prime Marketing Holdings, LLC $14,451,033May 30, 2017

Orion Processing, LLC, d/b/a World Law Processing, et al. $98,408,416

Siringoringo et al. $20,825,000

Global Client Solutions $8,188,668

Nov. 29, 2016

Morgan Drexen, Inc. and Walter Ledda  $33,993,373

May 27, 2016

Morgan Drexen, Inc. and Walter Ledda  $98,889,115

Irvine Web Works, Inc. d/b/a Student Loan Processing  $7,923,548

Student Aid Institute, Steven Lamont  $3,508,900

Nov. 27, 2015

Hoffman Law Group f/k/a Residential Litigation $11,074,842 

Student Financial Aid Services, Inc.  $9,300,000 

Consumer Education and Financial Literacy Programs  $15,432,809

May 29, 2015

College Education Services LLC  $3,459,336 

Union Workers Credit Services, Inc.  $18,908,744 

National Corrective Group, Inc.  $23,262,067 

Culver Capital, LLC  $421,481

Nov. 28, 2014

Culver Capital, LLC  $3,400,434 

Amerisave Mortgage Corporation  $1,380,470 

Global Client Solutions, LLC  $107,995,400

May 30, 2014

Meracord LLC  $11,542,229 

3-D Resorts–Bluegrass, LLC.  $6,704,100

Nov. 29, 2013

American Debt Settlement Solutions, Inc.  $499,248 

National Legal Help Center, Inc.  $2,057,983

May 30, 2013 

Payday Loan Debt Solution, Inc.  $488,815 

Gordon, et al.  $10,000,000 

Consumer Education and Financial Literacy Programs  $13,380,000

The Civil Penalty Fund rule governs how we use funds collected from civil penalties. First, the rule provides that we designate a Fund Administrator who manages the Civil Penalty Fund. Second, the rule explains the conditions under which harmed consumers receive payments from the Fund and the amounts of those payments. Third, the rule establishes procedures that the Fund Administrator follows to decide how money in the Fund is allocated between classes of harmed consumers and consumer education and financial literacy programs. Fourth, the rule explains how payments are distributed to harmed consumers. Finally, the rule requires the Fund Administrator to issue regular reports on how money in the Civil Penalty Fund has been used.

Read the rule

The total of all Civil Penalty Fund deposits through September 30, 2023, is $3,407,743,744. To see how the funds have been used and how much is available for allocation, review our financial reports.

The Civil Penalty Fund Administrator manages the Fund, and they report to the Chief Financial Officer.

The Civil Penalty Fund Administrator is advised by a Governance Board that is chaired by the Deputy Director and includes the Associate Director for Supervision, Enforcement, Fair Lending & Equal Opportunity; the Associate Director for Consumer Response and Education; the Chief Operating Officer; and the General Counsel.

Consumers with uncompensated harm are not limited to receiving only what the person or company that harmed them paid into the Civil Penalty Fund. All civil penalties are deposited into the Civil Penalty Fund where they are pooled and can be used for payments to eligible harmed consumers from any case.

Under the rule, harmed consumers may receive up to the amount of their uncompensated harm from the Civil Penalty Fund. The rule describes what constitutes “uncompensated harm” for purposes of payment. The Fund is not intended as a complete replacement for other sources of compensation. The amount that harmed consumers actually receive depends on how much money is in the Fund and other factors as described in Q7.

To determine the amount of a consumer’s uncompensated harm, the Fund Administrator takes the person’s total “compensable harm,” and subtracts any compensation that the person has already received—or is reasonably expected to receive—for that harm. The Fund Administrator determines the person’s total compensable harm by looking to the terms of the relevant court or administrative order. If the amount of compensable harm cannot be determined based on the terms of the relevant order, the compensable harm generally equals the out-of-pocket losses that resulted from the violation.

Allocating funds means setting aside money for a specific purpose. For the Civil Penalty Fund, the Fund Administrator “allocates” funds when they set aside money for payments to particular classes of harmed consumers, or for use on consumer education and financial literacy programs.

Once the Fund Administrator allocates funds to a class of harmed consumers, the CFPB begins the process to distribute payments to the people in that class. We usually work with payments administrators to identify and locate the harmed consumers in the class and distribute payments. Distribution processing time varies from case to case. For a list of cases currently in distribution, please refer to the table of ongoing cases.

If there is enough money in the Civil Penalty Fund to fully compensate all eligible consumers’ uncompensated harm, the CFPB generally first provides full compensation to all eligible harmed consumers to the extent practicable. then we can allocate remaining funds for consumer education and financial literacy programs, and/or keep money in the fund for future harmed consumers.

If, at the time of a scheduled allocation, there is not enough money available in the Civil Penalty Fund to provide full compensation for all eligible consumers’ uncompensated harm, the Fund Administrator allocates funds equitably among the classes of harmed consumers from the most recent six-month period, who have not yet had an opportunity to receive an allocation from the Fund. The Fund Administrator then allocates funds to classes of harmed consumers from preceding six-month periods if funds remain. If there is not enough money to give full compensation to all eligible harmed consumers who could practicably be paid, no money is allocated for consumer education and financial literacy programs.

The first priority is always to allocate funds to pay harmed consumers. If funds remain after allocating enough money to provide full compensation to all eligible harmed consumers who can practicably be paid, the Fund Administrator may allocate some or all remaining funds for consumer education and financial literacy programs.

The CFPB may use other statutory funds for consumer education and financial literacy and has committed to using funds for these purposes. The Civil Penalty Fund is also, and primarily, used to provide relief to harmed consumers, and we want to make certain that consumers who are harmed by scams and fraud can receive payments. At this time, we are using funds in the Civil Penalty Fund only for payments to harmed consumers.

The Civil Penalty Fund is maintained at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in a non-interest-bearing account.

When the CFPB enforces the law, it or a court may order the company or person that violated the law to take action to remedy the harm it caused consumers. This can include requiring the company or person to compensate people for this harm. This compensation is generally called “redress.” In some cases, we may require the company or person that violated the law to pay the redress directly to consumers. In other cases, we may require the company or person to pay the redress to us, and, in turn, we distribute the redress money to the people harmed by that person or company’s violations.

Civil money penalties and payments to harmed consumers from the Civil Penalty Fund are different. When a company or person that violated the law is ordered to pay a civil penalty, that penalty does not go directly to that company’s or person’s victims, but rather is put in the Civil Penalty Fund. All civil penalties that anyone pays to the CFPB are pooled in this common fund, and the money is used to pay any eligible harmed consumers in accordance with the Civil Penalty Fund rule.

The main difference between redress and Civil Penalty Fund payments is the link between who pays the money and who can receive the money. When a company or person pays redress, that redress money can go only to people harmed by that company or person. When a company or person pays a civil penalty, that money goes into the Civil Penalty Fund and can be used to pay any eligible harmed consumer from any case.

No, the Civil Penalty Fund is not funded by taxes or other money collected from the general public. It is funded by civil penalties, or fines, that the CFPB imposes on companies and/or individuals for violating federal consumer financial protection laws.

Consumers can’t apply to receive money from the Civil Penalty Fund. The CFPB determines which harmed consumers are eligible for the funds based on criteria described in the Civil Penalty Fund rule, which rely on the terms of our court and administrative orders. If a class of harmed consumers is eligible for funds and we don’t have all the information we need to make those payments, we may invite harmed consumers to submit claims. If that’s the case, you’ll find information about submitting a claim for a particular case in the table of ongoing cases.