CFPB to distribute more than $240,000 to consumers harmed by student loan debt-relief scam

This month, 845 former Student Aid Institute (SAI) consumers will receive checks in the mail in response to a lawsuit filed against Frank Ronald Gebase Jr., the founder, owner, and operator of Processingstudentloans, a student loan debt-relief company that illegally withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of former SAI consumers without their authorization. The total distribution amount is $240,994.00, and the money will come from the CFPB’s victims relief fund .

Payments will be sent on November 13, 2023, through RUST Consulting. You can learn more about this distribution at: https://www.cfpb.gov/payments/gebase. If you have questions about receiving a refund, email gebase_info@rustcfpbconsumerprotection.org or call 1 (833) 915-0956.

Learn more about the lawsuit

Action against Frank Ronald Gebase Jr.

On March 30, 2016, the CFPB ordered Student Aid Institute (SAI) to shut down its debt-relief operations and rescind all of its consumer agreements for violating consumer financial protection law by charging unlawful upfront fees for student loan debt-relief services and making false promises to consumers about possible savings through loan forgiveness and reduced payments.

Gebase was a longtime associate of SAI’s principal and the founder, sole owner, CEO and sole corporate officer of Processingstudentloans. In a lawsuit filed on June 9, 2022, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, against Gebase, the CFPB alleged that Processingstudentloans obtained student loan account and billing information for hundreds of former SAI consumers without their knowledge or consent and used that information to collect unauthorized fees from those accounts.

The CFPB alleged that through his actions as Processingstudentloans’ chief executive, Gebase engaged in and substantially assisted in unfair acts and practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA). The stipulated final judgment and order, among other requirements, prevents Gebase from directly or indirectly providing debt-relief services and requires him to pay a civil money penalty of $175,000.