July 28, 2004
The Federal Trade Commission has charged Integrated Capital, doing business as Gessel of Chico, CA, with violating the terms of an August 2003 settlement barring deceptive practices in the marketing and sale of college financial aid services.
The agency asked a U. S. District Court to cite the company for contempt of court, and order full redress to consumers. The agency also has asked the Court to modify the settlement to bar the defendants permanently from selling any academic goods or services.
Consumer complaints lend credence to the allegation that the firm has not changed its practices.
"I thought that paying $1300 was a small price for all the services that they offered, but I was terribly wrong. I got no real help from them," said Gessel of Chico, CA, in a complaint filed with ConsumerAffairs.com July 21. "All the financial aid that I recieved for college was because of the help that I got through my high school."
"To this day we have not heard anything and they are taking our money each month which will be stopped today. This company has not helped us in anyway, nor have they attempted to help," said Tyrone of Hopkins, SC.
In August 2003, the FTC filed suit charging the company with misreprresenting its college financial aid services. NSFA sent high school students and their parents letters inviting them to a free financial aid seminar. According to the FTC, the interviews, typically held in local hotels, were really sales seminars at which NSFA promoted its services.
These services ranged in price from $795 to $1,200, and purportedly helped consumers receive substantially more financial aid than they could get on their own.
The FTCs complaint alleged that NSFA misrepresented that: (1) students were selected based on their qualifications to participate in the defendants financial aid and admissions program; and (2) consumers who purchased their services were likely to receive substantially more financial aid than consumers could get on their own.
The complaint also alleged that between October 1997 and October 1999, NSFA falsely represented that they would refund their fees to consumers who did not obtain $2,500 in financial aid to attend a state college, or $3,000 to attend a private college.
In August 2003, the company agreed to settle the charges by agreeing that it would stop making the misrepresentations.
The latest action began on July 22, when papers were filed with the court. In those pleadings, the FTC alleges that NSFA and its principal, Alan Wilson, are engaged in the same misleading and illegal practices they were charged with in 2003 and that they had agreed to cease.
In an effort to persuade consumers seeking college financial aid to pay at least $1,000 they can ill-afford to spend, NSFAs sales personnel continue to misrepresent the efficacy of NSFAs services and the amount of effort required by consumers to implement those services, the brief in support of the FTCs motion says.
