September 15th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced an agreement to obtain $9,466,891 in debt relief for approximately 1,100 former students of ITT Technical Institute in Maryland as part of a multistate settlement with the PEAKS Trust entities (PEAKS), along with 47 other Attorneys General and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Nationally, the settlement will result in debt relief of more than $330 million for approximately 35,000 former ITT Tech students.

 

PEAKS, a private loan program affiliated with Deutsche Bank entities, provided loans to finance students’ tuition at ITT Tech, a for-profit college that, prior to its closure, enrolled students at 149 locations throughout the country, including two in Maryland.  ITT Tech filed bankruptcy in 2016 amid investigations by state attorneys general, led in part by Maryland, and following action by the U.S. Department of Education to restrict ITT Tech’s access to federal student aid. 

 

“Maryland students were deceived when they were pressured into taking on these predatory loans,” said Attorney General Frosh.  “PEAKS will be required by this settlement to provide debt relief to Maryland students who we allege were misled while they were working hard to further their education.”