NY attorney general settles soldiers' $3.5M debt

NY attorney general settles soldiers' $3.5M debt

Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. — An agreement with a finance company will clear $3.5 million in debt for nearly a thousand soldiers who bought computers and other electronics at highly inflated prices and credit terms at a retailer outside the Army's Fort Drum military base, the state's attorney general said Tuesday.

Rome Finance Co. Inc., of Concord, Calif., also agreed through its bankruptcy trustee to take steps to restore the credit histories of hundreds of people, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. Telephone calls to Rome Finance's trustee weren't immediately returned Tuesday.

A lawsuit filed last year by the attorney general's office and pending in state Supreme Court accuses electronics retailer SmartBuy and affiliates of defrauding service personnel through "wildly inflated" prices and high interest rates paid directly from military paychecks. The lawsuit seeks restitution and credit repair.

"This company took advantage of service members using deceptive practices and roping them into high-interest contracts and ruining their credit ratings," Schneiderman said.

Schneiderman, visiting his office in Watertown, near the military base in northern New York, with Fort Drum officials, said Tuesday that one soldier ended up $6,000 in debt for a computer that costs $1,200.

"The last thing any soldier should have on their mind is the fact they were the victim of a scam back home that haunts them when they are overseas," Schneiderman said. "They're easy victims for some types of scams."
read more here