(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein won a court order against student lender Prehired that requires the lender to shut down permanently, pay more than $4.2 million in restitution to student borrowers who were harmed, and void nearly $27 million in all outstanding loans. Along with the federal government and a bipartisan group of 10 other state attorneys general, Attorney General Stein alleged that Prehired made false promises about job placements, trapped students with unlawful loans, and used abusive debt collection practices on borrowers. In North Carolina, 22 people made payments to Prehired totaling $112,716.638. North Carolinians may receive an estimated $1.1 million in contract cancellations. 

“We will not allow predatory lenders to rob North Carolinians of their money and damage their futures,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “I’m pleased that this order wins relief for students who were harmed and shuts down the company.” 

Prehired students affected by this action can submit a claim at https://cms.www.prehiredclaims.com/. 

Prehired operated a 12-week online training program that claimed to prepare students to get guaranteed jobs as entry-level software sales development representatives with six-figure salaries. Prehired offered “income share loans”, which require students to pay back the loans as a percentage of the income they make after graduating. Attorney General Stein sued Prehired in June 2023, alleging that the company was violating consumer financial laws by claiming its loans were not really loans, failing to tell borrowers about important parts of the loan agreement, deceptively pushing borrowers into debt, and suing students in jurisdictions that were far away from where they lived to make it harder for them to dispute the cases. 

Prehired has already filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations, but today’s order requires it to shut down for good. 

Attorney General Stein is joined in this matter by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Attorneys General of Washington, Delaware, California, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

A copy of the judgment is available here.