The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) yesterday fined Flourish Inc., doing business as online marketplace lender LendUp, $3.6 million for allegedly deceiving customers by making false promises about its products, MorningConsult.com reported. LendUp started offering loans aimed at improving credit scores in 2012 but “did not deliver on its promises,” the CFPB said yesterday. The lender misled customers about the annual percentage rate they would have to pay, and it did not report credit information despite a pledge to improve consumers’ credit ratings, the agency said. The CFPB order includes a $1.83 million requirement to pay back victims, a $1.8 million civil penalty, and a mandate to stop deceptive lending practices and misleading advertisements.
