Shut Down, Then Back in Business Within Weeks: The FTC's Higher Goals Marketing Copycat Case

That's what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says happened with Higher Goals Marketing.

So what happened?

In December 2017, the FTC sued Higher Goals Marketing LLC, Sunshine Freedom Services LLC and several individuals in federal court in Orlando (Middle District of Florida, case no. 6:17-cv-02048-GAP-KRS).

According to the FTC, some of these folks had worked at a nearly identical telemarketing operation, Life Management Services, that a court shut down in 2016 at the FTC's request. And within weeks of that court order, they set up a new one selling the same kind of bogus credit card interest rate reduction services.

The FTC said defendant Wayne T. Norris, who had worked for the defendants in two earlier FTC debt relief cases, started working with defendant Brandun L. Anderson to set up Higher Goals weeks after the court entered a temporary restraining order in the Life Management Services case.

The pitch

Here's how it worked, according to the complaint:

• Robocalls went out to people struggling with credit card debt.
• The pitch guaranteed it could substantially and permanently lower their interest rates and save them thousands of dollars.
• In reality, the scheme was rarely, if ever, able to deliver.
• Sometimes they just got people new credit cards with low teaser rates, and didn't mention the teaser rates were temporary or that there was a fee to transfer balances.
• They collected illegal up-front fees, called numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry and didn't pay to access the Registry.

Am I right? It's the oldest telemarketing scam in the book. "Lower your credit card rate." People fall for it because they are stressed about money.

Read the FTC's complaint against Higher Goals Marketing.

How it ended

On March 18, 2019, the judge entered a final order which:

• Permanently bans Anderson, Lea A. Brownell, Melissa M. Deese, Gerald D. Starr, Jr., Travis L. Teel, Norris and Sunshine Freedom Services from telemarketing and debt relief services.
• Imposes a $3.15 million judgment, suspended after they turn over all of their available assets.

The FTC said it was seeking a default judgment against the last defendant, Higher Goals Marketing, LLC itself.

Why should you care?

Here's the thing ... the FTC remembers names. If you worked at a shop that got shut down, and you start the same shop down the street, you are not starting fresh. You're the first person they'll look at.

• Charging up front for debt relief is a Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) violation. Don't do it.
• Never guarantee a result you can't control, like a bank's interest rate.
• Robocalls for sales pitches need prior express written consent. Period.
• Disclose the fees. All of them.

Don't do it. Just don't.