In Brief: Fleet Unit and Its Successor Settle FTC Suit

Fleet Financial Group Inc. and two units of Home Equity U.S.A. agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they deceived home equity borrowers.

Prosecutors said Fleet Finance Inc., a former Fleet unit based in Atlanta, and the Rhode Island and Delaware branches of Home Equity, which bought Fleet Finance from Fleet, violated federal laws that require creditors to give consumers documentation of the costs and terms of loans and allow borrowers to cancel certain transactions.

The settlement will compensate borrowers and pay for administrative costs on loans started or bought by Fleet Finance between Jan. 1, 1990, and Dec. 31, 1993.

Fleet Financial would not comment.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER