Attorney General Phil Weiser announces $200,000 in refunds for Americor and Credit9 customers

Dec. 14, 2022 (DENVER)— Attorney General Phil Weiser today announced that his office has secured $200,000 in refunds for the 262 Colorado customers wronged by Americor and Credit9’s financial practices.

Americor, a California-based debt management company, formed a sister lending company, Credit9, which was licensed to operate in Colorado in 2018. At that time, the attorney general’s office warned Credit9 that it could not lend money to Americor customers because the two companies were linked by the same owner. Under Colorado law, a company that provides debt management services to a consumer cannot lend money or provide credit to that same consumer. Although the company was warned, Credit9 provided loans to Americor customers.

“Cross-lending practices like this put consumers at risk, as debt management companies may use the loans to get around Colorado fee protections, while saddling struggling consumers with new debt,” said Weiser. “We will continue to protect hardworking Coloradans by ensuring businesses adhere to protections in place for consumers, and holding them accountable should they violate the law.”

An investigation by the Consumer Credit Unit in the Colorado Department of Law’s Consumer Protection Section also found that some consumers’ agreements with Americor were not signed by the company, which is also a violation of Colorado law.

Of the $200,000 in refunds, 60% will go to 24 consumers who experienced cross-lending, and 40% will go to the 238 consumers with unsigned agreements. Electronic payments will be sent when possible, but if bank account information is not available the payment will be sent via check.

Both companies cannot enroll any new Colorado consumers for two years.

The Consumer Credit Unit regulates companies and individuals involved in consumer lending, debt collection, debt management, mortgage servicing and student loan servicing, and enforces a variety of statutes governing those and related practices. To learn more, visit the Colorado Attorney General’s website.

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Media Contact
Lawrence Pacheco
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Lawrence.pacheco@coag.gov