[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 25 (Friday, February 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6715-6717]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02376]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 132 3262]
Finance Select, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid
Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these
allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 3, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/fastcashpawnconsent/ online or on paper,
by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Finance Select, Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 1323262'' on your comment and file your
comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/fastcashpawnconsent/ by following the instructions on the Web-based
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Finance
Select, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323262'' on your comment and
on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor,
Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Helen Wong, Bureau of Consumer
Protection, (202) 326-3779, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC Home Page (for January 30, 2015), on the World Wide Web,
at http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 3, 2015.
Write ``Finance
[[Page 6716]]
Select, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323262'' on your comment.
Your comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable,
on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to
remove individuals' home contact information from comments before
placing them on the Commission Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the
public interest.
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\1\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/fastcashpawnconsent/ by following the instructions on the Web-based
form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you
also may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``Finance Select, Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 1323262'' on your comment and on the
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before March 3, 2015. You can find more information,
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the
Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent
order from Finance Select, Inc. The proposed consent order has been
placed on the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of
comments by interested persons. Comments received during this period
will become part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the FTC
will again review the agreement and the comments received, and will
decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement and take
appropriate action or make final the agreement's proposed order.
The respondent is a car title loan company. According to the FTC
complaint, respondent has advertised its loans with advertisements that
broadly state that the title loans are available for ``1st 30 Days
0%.'' In much smaller print, these advertisements state ``New Customers
Only.'' However, respondent's advertisements fail to disclose that
unless the loan is completely repaid in 30 days, the 0% offer does not
apply and there is a significant finance charge. If a consumer does not
repay the loan in full in 30 days, he or she would then be required to
pay the finance charge for the first 30 days in addition to any
additional finance charges incurred on day 31 (to start the second 30-
day period). The advertisements also fail to disclose the amount of the
finance charge after expiration of the 30-day introductory period. The
proposed complaint alleges that these material omissions constitute a
deceptive act or practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
The proposed order is designed to prevent the respondent from
engaging in similar deceptive practices in the future. Part I prohibits
the respondent from stating an introductory or temporary finance charge
without disclosing, clearly and conspicuously, the finance charge after
the introductory or temporary period ends; or the full effect of
failing to make a timely complete repayment of the loan within the
introductory or temporary time period. Respondent must further disclose
all qualifying terms associated with obtaining the loan at its
advertised rate, including but not limited to, minimum loan
requirements, new customer requirements, and any other material term;
all costs associated with obtaining the loan, including but not limited
to transaction costs. Respondent also cannot misrepresent registration
costs or fees, recording costs or fees, and title fees; and respondent
cannot misrepresent any other material fact about the terms of the
loan.
Parts II through VI of the proposed order are reporting and
compliance provisions. Part II is an order distribution provision that
requires respondent to provide the order to current and future
principals, officers, directors, and managers and to all current
employees, agents, and representatives having responsibilities with
respect to the advertisement of consumer credit. Part III of the
proposed order requires respondent to maintain and upon request make
available to the Commission certain compliance-related records,
including all advertisements and also consumer complaints and records
that demonstrate compliance with the proposed order for a period of
five years. Part IV requires respondent to notify the Commission of
corporate changes that may affect compliance obligations within 30 days
of such a change. Part V requires respondent to submit a compliance
report to the Commission 60 days after entry of the order, and also
additional compliance reports within 10 business days of a written
request by the Commission. Part VI ``sunsets'' the order after 20
years, with certain exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to aid public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an
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official interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to
modify in any way the proposed order's terms.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-02376 Filed 2-5-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P