"USA Student Debt Relief", run from Colombia, and the Do Not Call list
In May 2025 the FTC banned the operators of Start Connecting LLC and its Colombian affiliate, trading as USA Student Debt Relief, from the debt relief industry. They allegedly took more than $7.3 million in illegal advance fees, promised permanently fixed payments and full forgiveness, and cold-called tens of thousands of people on the Do Not Call Registry.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United States, CO
- Outcome
- Settled
- Reported loss
- $7.3 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Student loan forgiveness scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- The FTC announced the settlement on 22 May 2025.
- Defendants were Start Connecting LLC of Florida, Start Connecting SAS of Colombia trading as USA Student Debt Relief (USASDR), and owners Douglas Goodman, Doris Gallon-Goodman and Juan Rojas.
- The FTC alleged they took more than $7.3 million in illegal advance fees and payments for non-existent debt relief.
- They allegedly promised low, permanently fixed monthly payments and complete loan forgiveness.
- They allegedly claimed affiliation with the Department of Education and its loan servicers, and told borrowers monthly payments would be applied to loan balances.
- They allegedly called tens of thousands of consumers on the Do Not Call Registry.
- The order permanently bans them from the debt relief industry and prohibits misrepresenting government affiliation, false forgiveness promises, advance fees and fake testimonials.
- A $7.3 million judgment was partially suspended on surrender of more than $1 million in assets. The Commission vote was 3-0.
- A separate FTC distribution on 5 August 2025 sent $743,230 to 6,269 consumers harmed by BCO Consulting Services and SLA Consulting Services, banned from the industry in October 2023 for the same conduct.
Why this case matters
Three things in this one are worth separating out, because each says something the others do not.
A Colombian call centre. Start Connecting SAS operated from Colombia while Start Connecting LLC sat in Florida. The trading name, USA Student Debt Relief, did the rest.
The Do Not Call Registry. The FTC alleges tens of thousands of the people called were on it. The registry is a list of people who have taken an explicit step to stop unsolicited sales calls, and calling it is a separate violation from anything about the product. It also, in effect, identifies the population most likely to be sold to.
“Permanently fixed” monthly payments. Not a false promise about forgiveness — a false promise about certainty. Income-driven repayment plans vary with income, by design. What was sold was the removal of that uncertainty, which is a more precisely targeted lie than “we can wipe your loans”.
What the pattern is
Read alongside the Superior Servicing case, the FTC’s complaints describe the same four elements every time:
- A claim of affiliation with the Department of Education or the borrower’s real loan servicer.
- A promise of forgiveness or a permanently reduced payment.
- An upfront fee, described as going towards the loan balance.
- The fee going nowhere near the loan balance.
Four elements, two unrelated operations, and the same complaint text. This is a template, not a series of independent inventions.
What consumers actually get back
On 5 August 2025 the FTC distributed $743,230 to 6,269 consumers harmed by BCO Consulting Services and SLA Consulting Services — a third operation, banned from the industry in October 2023 for the same conduct.
That works out to about $119 each, against upfront fees the FTC describes as ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars, distributed nearly two years after the ban.
We record that not as a criticism of the FTC, which recovers what exists, but as the realistic answer to “will I get my money back?” The honest answer across this whole category is: a fraction of it, years later, if the operation is caught at all.
Sources
- Student Loan Debt Relief Scam Operators Agree to be Permanently Banned from Industry, Turn Over Assets to Resolve FTC Charges. US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The 22 May 2025 settlement, all defendants and entities, the $7.3m, the fixed-payment and forgiveness promises, the Department of Education claim, the Do Not Call calling, the order terms and the 3-0 vote.
- FTC Sends Money to Student Loan Borrowers Harmed by Debt Relief Scam. US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The 5 August 2025 distribution of $743,230 to 6,269 consumers, the BCO and SLA Consulting defendants and the October 2023 ban.