If entered by the court, the order would ban the company and its executives from the industry and impose a civil penalty.
6/30/2021 9:00
On June 28, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit and proposed order against Burlington Financial Group and its owners and executives, Richard Burnham, Katherine Burnham and Sang Yi, for allegedly deceiving consumers into hiring the company to lower or eliminate credit card debts and improve consumers’ credit scores, according to a CFPB news release issued June 29.
The bureau filed its complaint jointly with the Georgia attorney general in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Burlington Financial is a Maryland-based company offering debt relief and credit repair services. The CFPB alleges that Burlington Financial and its principals used telemarketing to solicit consumers with false promises that Burlington’s services would eliminate their credit card debts and improve their credit scores, according to its complaint. It claims that the company charged advance fees for debt relief and credit repair services in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and engaged in deceptive acts or practices to market and sell Burlington’s services in violation of the TSR and Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010.
The proposed order, if entered by the court, would ban the company and its owners and executives from the industry and impose a civil penalty of $150,001. It would impose a judgment for redress of at least $30 million to be suspended upon payment of the civil money penalty.
“For more than three years, Burlington Financial used deceptive telemarketing tactics to defraud vulnerable people into believing the company could eliminate their credit card debts and improve their credit scores,” said CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio in a press release. “We will continue to investigate and seek justice for victims of companies that lie, cheat, and steal from people who they claim to be helping.”