Federal officials are advising thousands of people eligible for debt forgiveness from Online Trading Academy to be on the lookout for correspondence from the investment service provider, following an $8 million settlement related to deceptive claims.
“These notices are real, so don’t delete or throw them away, and check your spam or junk folders in case the email notice was directed there,” the Federal Trade Commission wrote in a post on its website Monday.
The letters contain important instructions on how to have outstanding OTA debt forgiven and removed from a credit report. Customers can check their eligibility on the FTC’s website and have until Friday, Nov. 13 to request OTA forgive their debt.
The FTC had sued OTA for what it called a “get-rich-quick” scheme with promises of teaching pricey, bogus online courses on how to make money in the stock money — some of which cost as much as $50,000 and were often targeted at older people.
In September, the federal government announced a settlement in which the company would be required to offer debt forgiveness to the thousands of customers who purchased the phony classes. OTA has locations in Elkridge, Maryland, and Vienna, Virginia.
OTA can be contacted at 1-877-755-1650 or myeducation@tradingacademy.com.
