Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced Tuesday that the Volunteer State was included in the 41 states and the District of Columbia which reached a $35 million settlement with leasing company Tempoe, LLC.
The company, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), is a nonbank consumer finance company based in Ohio that offered lease purchase agreements to consumers nationwide prior to this week’s settlement.
Between 2015 and 2022, the CFPB notes, Tempoe entered into over 1.8 million financial agreements with consumers. The company would typically offer consumers leases for items such as auto parts, large home appliances, furniture, toys, and jewelry.
The company would also typically target consumers who applied for and were rejected for conventional financing when trying to make a purchase at a retailer, the CFPB adds.
The multistate investigation into the company, according to Skrmetti’s office, revealed that Tempoe’s marketing and sales practices “misled consumers into signing complicated agreements with finance charges that could sometimes triple the cost of a product.”
As such, through the recent settlement reached with the company, Tempoe is “permanently banned from engaging in future consumer leasing activities,” Skrmetti’s office notes.
The settlement also resulted in all existing leases being canceled and consumers being able to retain the leased merchandise in their possession without any further financial obligation to Tempoe, which, according to Skrmetti’s office, will result in approximately $33 million of “in-kind” financial relief to consumers nationwide.
Additionally, the company is also prohibited from “negatively affecting customers’ credit reports” as a result of this week’s settlement.
“The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office has no tolerance for companies that trick customers into exorbitant payment schemes,” Skrmetti said in a separate statement on Tuesday. “This agreement holds Tempoe accountable and gives consumers the relief they deserve.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
