Americor Lawsuit: TCPA Case, Colorado Settlement, and CROA Probe

Americor Funding, the Irvine, California debt settlement company, has been the subject of a lawsuit filed as a putative class action, a state attorney general enforcement action, an employment arbitration dispute now pending before the California Supreme Court, and hundreds of consumer complaints. No class has ever been certified against the company. The only action that has delivered money back to a group of consumers was brought by Colorado regulators, not by private plaintiffs.

The Scott TCPA Class Action

The best-known class filing against Americor was Scott v. Americor Funding, LLC, Case No. 1:23-cv-02457, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Plaintiff Kivon Scott alleged that Americor violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by placing unsolicited telemarketing calls using prerecorded voice messages. He said he received robocalls on March 6 and March 13, 2023 that played generic, non-live messages. Scott sued on behalf of himself and “all others similarly situated.”¹

Americor moved to dismiss and separately moved to strike the class allegations. In January 2024, Judge Victoria M. Calvert denied both motions, keeping the class claims alive. The case did not reach class certification. On April 17, 2024, Scott filed a notice that he had settled his individual claims, then filed a voluntary dismissal with prejudice. The court closed the case on April 30, 2024.¹ Because the settlement covered only Scott’s personal claims and no class was certified, no broader group of consumers received anything from the case.

Colorado Attorney General Settlement

In December 2022, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced a settlement with Americor Funding, Inc., its sister lender Credit9, Inc., and their shared owner, Banir Ganatra. The action followed compliance examinations by the state’s Consumer Credit Unit and produced a Stipulation and Final Agency Order signed on December 13, 2022.²

The state identified two violations. First, illegal cross-lending: Colorado prohibits a company that provides debt management services from also lending money to the same consumer, and the state found that Credit9 had issued loans to Americor customers despite an AG warning against the practice going back to 2018, when Credit9 first obtained its Colorado license. Second, unsigned consumer agreements: some of Americor’s contracts had not been signed by the company, in violation of state requirements.³

The companies agreed to pay $200,000 in restitution to 262 affected consumers. Sixty percent went to the 24 consumers harmed by the cross-lending arrangement, and 40 percent went to the 238 consumers whose agreements were unsigned. Americor and Credit9 were also barred from enrolling any new Colorado consumers for two years.²

Costa-Fleeson: When Americor’s Arbitration Clause Backfired

An employment case, Costa-Fleeson v. Americor Funding, Inc. (Case No. G062962), shows what happens when Americor itself fails to comply with the arbitration process it demands of others. A former employee initiated arbitration as required by the contract. Americor then failed to pay the required $45,300 JAMS arbitration deposit within the 30-day deadline set by California law.⁴

Under California Code of Civil Procedure sections 1281.98 and 1281.99, a company that drafts an arbitration agreement and then fails to pay arbitration fees on time is deemed to have materially breached the agreement. The trial court found Americor in default, allowed the plaintiff to withdraw from arbitration and proceed in court, and awarded $176,687.96 in attorney fees and costs as sanctions.⁴

On appeal, Americor argued that the Federal Arbitration Act preempted California’s fee-payment statute. In August 2024, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal rejected that argument and affirmed both the breach finding and the fee award, calling the 30-day payment deadline a “bright-line rule” under which intent and lack of prejudice are irrelevant. The California Supreme Court has agreed to review the preemption question.⁵

Why There Is No Broad Class Action

Americor’s terms of use require consumers to resolve disputes through binding individual arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act. The agreement explicitly bars class actions, representative actions, and private attorney general actions. Consumers must give 60 days’ written notice before initiating arbitration, and they waive the right to a jury trial or to sue in court.⁶

That clause is the practical reason searches for a large Americor class action come up short. Even valid individual claims typically get channeled into one-on-one proceedings. Costa-Fleeson is a narrow exception, available only when the company itself misses an arbitration deadline.

What Consumer Complaints Allege

Americor’s Better Business Bureau profile shows 257 complaints over the prior three years as of mid-2026, with 67 closed in the most recent 12-month period. The company marked 216 as “answered” and 41 as “resolved.”⁷

The recurring themes are worth knowing if you are considering enrollment or already in a program:

Creditor lawsuits and garnishments while enrolled. Some consumers report being sued during the debt settlement process, with judgments and wage garnishment following. In one complaint, a consumer said Americor failed to handle litigation despite receiving documentation and requests for help. Americor replied that it “is not a law firm and is thus not authorized to provide legal services,” and that it provides administrative support to Advantage Law, a separate entity with which the consumer had a retainer agreement.⁸
Cancellation and refund delays. Consumers report trouble canceling and getting funds returned from settlement accounts. One complaint described Americor holding a refund for two weeks after a cancellation made within the contractual three-day window.⁷
Unsolicited calls and aggressive sales tactics. Complaints describe persistent calls, agents becoming rude after a consumer declined an offer, and difficulty getting placed on a do-not-contact list.⁹
Slow or partial negotiations. Some consumers report that only a fraction of enrolled debts had been addressed after months of payments. One account described only two of 11 creditors being settled.¹⁰

Americor has told the BBB that its fees “are calculated based on the enrolled balance of each debt and are earned after a settlement is negotiated, accepted by the customer, and a payment is made.”⁷ That structure tracks the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, which prohibits debt relief companies from collecting fees before at least one debt has been renegotiated or settled and a payment made on the new arrangement.¹¹

Pending Investigation Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act

At least one law firm has publicly advertised an investigation into potential Credit Repair Organizations Act violations by Americor and other debt settlement companies. The investigation, led by Atlas Consumer Law, focuses on charging fees before services are performed, making promises that cannot legally be delivered, and failing to provide written contracts at enrollment. As of the available information, it had not resulted in a filed lawsuit.¹²

If you were harmed by conduct like the practices the Colorado action addressed, or if you are dealing with a creditor lawsuit that arose while enrolled, the arbitration clause in Americor’s terms will almost certainly govern how you can bring a claim. Read that clause before assuming a class case is available, and keep documentation of every enrollment communication, fee charged, and creditor notice received.

1
CourtListener. Scott v. Americor Funding, LLC
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Colorado Attorney General. Americor Stipulation and Final Agency Order
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Law Week Colorado. Colorado to Get $200K in Refunds for Americor and Credit9 Consumers
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Horvitz & Levy. Costa-Fleeson v. Americor Funding, G062962
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Cal Attorneys Fees. Cases – Preemption
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Americor. Terms of Use
7
Better Business Bureau. Americor Complaints
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Better Business Bureau. Americor Complaints – Page 8
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Better Business Bureau. Americor Complaints – Page 3
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Get Out of Debt. Working With Americor Financial but Getting Sued
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is a Debt Relief Program
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Top Class Actions. Credit Repair Organizations Act Lawsuit Investigation