Press Release  AG Healey Secures Loan Relief for Students Misled by Online Education Company

Boston — Attorney General Maura Healey announced today that MSW Capital, LLC, a Florida-based debt buyer, will discharge thousands of dollars of loans made to Massachusetts students to finance expensive and ineffective online study materials and educational services.

Under the terms of an assurance of discontinuance, filed by the AG’s Office in Suffolk Superior Court on Thursday, MSW Capital will discharge approximately $39,000 in loan debt and provide $1,400 in refunds to Massachusetts students made in connection with their purchases from The College Network, Inc., a for profit company that provided online study guides and education services to students. MSW Capital will also request the removal of negative loan information from the students’ credit reports.

“The College Network repeatedly mislead Massachusetts students and provided inadequate education services at a high cost,” said AG Healey. “With this settlement, more students are receiving the relief they need.” 

The AG’s Office alleges that between January 2010 and May 2016, The College Network misled students by representing that its educational materials would help them pass equivalency exams and earn college credit in fields such as nursing and healthcare administration. The company’s salespeople often arranged for students to obtain financing from certain credit unions. In some instances, the credit unions sold the loans to other entities. MSW Capital, a debt buyer, purchased a small portfolio of these loans. 

The AG’s Office previously reached settlements with two credit unions, We Florida Financial and Southeast Financial Credit Union, which extended credit to The College Network’s consumers. To date, AG Healey has secured more than $1.5 million in loan relief for Massachusetts consumers of The College Network. The College Network became insolvent and was administratively dissolved in 2017.

Massachusetts residents who are eligible for relief under the settlement will be contacted by the AG’s Office. Anyone with questions about this settlement or complaints about The College Network, Inc. may contact the Attorney General’s Student Loan Assistance Unit at 1-888-830-6277 or file a complaint at www.mass.gov/ago/studentloans.

This matter was handled by Brook Kellerman, Arwen Thoman, and Glenn Kaplan, all of Attorney General Healey’s Insurance and Financial Services Division.

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