Colorado Announces $14 million in Penalties Against Debt Settlement Firm

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced last week that his office has obtained a final agency order for civil penalties against Credit Solutions of America, LLC, a Dallas company, and Doug Van Arsdale, the company’s president, for unregistered and unlawful debt management practices in Colorado.

Under the final order, Van Arsdale and his company are each liable for more than $5 million in civil penalties, for a total of over $10 million. In addition to the $10 million, the company will pay close to $4 million in restitution to nearly 3,000 Colorado citizens.

In 2008, Credit Solutions of America, LLC registered in Colorado as a debt settlement services company. But the company failed to renew its registration in 2009, and in the meantime, the company continued to operate in Colorado, violating various provisions of the Colorado Debt Management Services Act, according to Suthers’s announcement.

The attorney general did not elaborate on the debt settlement violations Credit Solutions was accused of nor did he note if Credit Solutions had responded to the allegations.

Credit Solutions is a large debt settlement firm founded in Dallas in 2003. The company recently claimed 750 employees. It has been the target of several lawsuits from state attorneys general some of which have been decided and some still pending.