Settlement: Le Cordon Bleu/Western Culinary and Career Education Corp.

Thank you for your good work Mr. Sugerman, it has been a battle well fought.
If a person owes and in arrears, does the payment go to Navient?

Hi Katherine-
The money goes to you, not Navient. You might want to use it to litigate or possibly negotiate a payoff. Or you might choose to keep it. Your call.

What is the refund of payments made directly to the school? $30k was in student loans and approximately $10k was paid directly to Cordon Bleu, that 10k doesn't include interest charged. What would be the proposed return on this scenario?

Thank you for all your hard work on this! My Son graduated from Western in 2004, are there any other avenues he can take?
He still owes $11K but is current on both loans that started out at $39K.

Thank you for the hard work on this. If I have moved since I graduated how will I get my Claim form

Hi,

I just saw the KGW report about your work and the Le Cordon Bleu settlement. I was a student to received an AOS in Patisserie and Baking in 2005. I too was disillusioned about my prospects, as promised by Western Culinary, when I graduated. I was hoping to have a new career, away from the administrative office world. I tried unsuccessfully to find good paying employment and when that didn't work out, I tried to start my own bakery. After nearly 6 months, I decided it was best for me to return to my administrative work. Eventually, I found a decent paying administrative position, and with my husband's support, I used all of my pay to pay off my Sallie Mae loan. I would be very interested in filing a claim. Many thanks for all of your wonderful work in getting this resolved for many of us who feel like we were had.

Does this settlement apply to students who enrolled and started before March 2006, but attended and graduated after that date?

I haven’t read into the details. Why does the claim only cover those who attended between March 2006 and Mach 2010? My husband attended between 2003-2005. Great work nonetheless.

My son attended the Institute and I believe he has a right to file a claim, based on when he enrolled. He will be watching for future information, buy could you please add my email to your contact list? Danny forwarded this message to me, but I want to stay informed and help make sure that he does not miss any future communications or deadlines.
Thank you,
Duncan

I signed an enrollment agreement in March of 2005 and graduated in May of 2006. This particular settlement won't apply to me. However, you are saying that the information gathered from this could possibly be used by me to fight Navient on the amount I still owe them? The original loan amount of $19k was at a ridiculous (criminal even) interest rate, but I was told that the employment I could obtain would pay it off in no time. That employment never materialized and due to low wages I had to put my payment into forbearance a few times. I have paid them $26k so far (mostly in interest) and still owe $60k at $900 a month!!!!!! I'm barely making the payments and have no forbearance left. If I stop paying, they will come after me and garnish my wages which will instantly make me homeless. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for all of your hard work for the people.

I graduated Le Cordon Blue in 2002 under the restaurant management program. My tuition in was paid in full. Is there any recourse for me?

Is this settlement considered income, and be taxed?

Hi Katherine-
I am not qualified to give tax advice, and I really don't have any idea whether amendments to the tax code earlier this year affected the recovery. For purposes of consulting with a tax professional, the best way to think of this is that your individual recovery is a partial refund, and our fees are being paid directly by the defendants.

Great work and thank you! I am drowning in loan debt from a worthless degree and this gives me hope. I would like info on the process to use the fraud of the school to have loans dismissed. Would I have to use a lawyer and will it be a long process or what would it entail?

Hello, i attended Western culinary in November 2006 -Graduated May 2008. What documents do you specifically need to file the claim in March? I recently requested Navient to send me documents showing when the loan was taken and to which school. Is that enough? I don’t have enrollement paperwork from 11 years ago just loan docs and my degree.

I attended at the Orlando, Florida campus, in 2008. Do I qualify?

Do I have to request a claim from or will it be sent to my house?

Any path of action for those who were enrolled after 2010? I graduated in 2014 and still owe on the majority of my loan.

Hi, I'm trying to call the office but there is no respons is there any other way to get a hold of someone I can speak to? Thank you in advance

I have questions if I attended to Las Vegas Le Cordon Bleu 2007 to 2010 not successful for future careers you will able help me or only in Oregon?

Hi there, I enrolled and started in August of 2010. What qualifies the cutoff to March of 2010? Would I still be considered?

Hello. I was a former student that was interviewed by your office over 10 years ago. Unfortunately it was decided years after that meeting that the class would only cover students that enrolled between 3/06 and 3/10 and I missed that timeframe by a few months. I have read your post above (and have followed it for years) and now I'm incredibly interested in the possible student loan forgiveness information. I feel stuck in this debt, even though I am not in collection status (painfully paying each month for 10 years with another 10 years left to go. No longer working in the food biz). I would like info on the process to use the fraud of the school to have loans dismissed. Would I need to hire a lawyer for this and will it be another 10 year process? Thank you for any info and thanks for all your hard work!

I graduated from the Le Cordon Blue school in Chicago (Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago). I attended 2003 - 2005, have you heard of any class action suits involving this school? It sounds as if C.E.C practiced deception among all of their culinary schools. We were fed the same lies and b.s. here as well! Can someone poi t me in the right direction if you have heard any other class action suits involving them.
Thank you!

Would those who co-signed for the loan be eligible?

Thanks for your help David. What is the anticipated legal fees we would have to pay and does it come out of our refund?

I recently moved and never received a claim form, how can I get one sent to me? I didn't get my address changed until recently and my former roommates likely threw my mail away... I also would like a referral to the student loan attorneys that you mentioned.

Thank you for all your hard work!

I am wondering if you all represent anyone from other campus' outside of the Portland area. I was a student at the Le Cordon Bleu location in Orlando Fl and I am a loss for help as this is what happened to all of us here too but i am finding no local representation and im not sure how to go about this process.

David,
Congratulations on a well-deserved settlement.
1. Has the settlement been approved by the Court?
2. What is the claim filing deadline?
3. What is the deadline for filing for arbitration?
4. My son has three WCI loans which appear to be covered by your settlement. Loan documents for two have been lost. How can we determine which ones must be arbitrated?

Does this cover classes graduating in 1999?

If so, how do we file?

So I started at Western and I think 2003 maybe 2004 and due to my mother getting ill and my step father passing away I transfer to Pennsylvania culinary in 04 At the admissions office I had to retake a bunch of classes that I’ve already taken at Western and basically when all is said and done my student loan percentage went from 3% at Western to18% of Pennsylvania and they are both le cordon blue schools So basically they were telling me I had to pay about $900 a month right out of school unfortunately my mother passed away and left me a little bit of money and ended up paying them about $35,000 don’t know if I can get any help with this but we are at Western culinary when the transition was going on from the old building to the new we have no product no structure complete shit show

If i have my school debt in collections will this 44% refund be going to collection or myself?

Are there any updates as far as if the pay out is happening? I submitted my paperwork and am just wondering if this is real or not. If it is real, do you think refunds will happen this year or far away future?
Thank you for keeping us in the loop through our this long ordeal!

Are there any updates as far as if the pay out is happening? I submitted my paperwork and am just wondering if this is real or not. If it is real, do you think refunds will happen this year or far away future?
Thank you for keeping us in the loop throuh this long ordeal!

So, heads up to any students who were attending from 2005-2007, I didn't make the class, as I enrolled few months before class timeline. I just got a notification from my credit monitor CreditWise, that Transunion updated my rating. On May 7th I had $43,604.78 in delinquent Navient student loan debt. As of today, May 8th, my score jumped up 116 points and ALL STUDENT LOAN DEBT AND DELINQUENT PAYMENT HISTORY REMOVED. Yes, that Just happened. I can only attribute it to this:

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/342578-student-loan-debt-may-be-wiped-away-over-missing-paperwork-report

Check your Credit report. Creditkarma.com is free and legit. You may have just gotten an impossible glitch in the matrix blessing. I give God all the glory of this. A miracle.

Thank you for helping all of us with this

I filled out the forms online and didn’t receive any paperwork after. Can you confirm that you have everything you need from me?

I went to school.in 2012 do I qualify? Please send me a email if I do at woody3706@gmail.com

If we are included in the settlement, can our parents who cosigned our loans still participate in the student loan forgiveness program? Although my portion of my student loans have been paid off, my mother owes a majority of her portion still. I understand she will not benefit from the 44% pay out, but is there something we can do to help with her portion of my student loans?

If the settlement is approved on Friday, is the money received considered taxable income or is it exempt for taxes?

Thanks!

Any update on the final approval hearing?

David thanks for all your hard work. It is appreciated

Any update on the final approval hearing?

Hi David,
My husband and I both went to Brooks Institute in CA, which was owned by Career Education Corp, CEC, and there is a huge amount of miss-leading the schools did during our time there. Is it by any chance included in the suit against CEC? There are is a large number of students that were unable to finish their degrees when Brooks was closed by CEC and a huge number of us who were miss-lead. Even my husband and I who graduated have had issues since he got a different degree when he finished than was expected. Just curious!

I have a potential client that missed the deadline for the Culinary Institute of Portland settlement. I believe the deadline was in June 2018, but he claims he did not know about it until recently. Any way he can petition for inclusion in the class?

Hey, I'm messaging here on behalf of a sibling who lives abroad and missed the deadlines. Does anyone know if today's court ruling on the Obama-era student debt relief act is another option for people like my sibling?

Also, in response to my last comment: was WCI accused of fraud with regard to placement rates?

Hey, I graduated at I believe 2003? Top of the class however... i used to teach and they told me quit my job if I was really trying to do to fo this. So I quit my 40k annual job and drove in at 8$ an hour. I was told this degree would put me head n shoulders above everyone else. 15 years later yes I'm in charge finally back at 40k however I have a mortgage payment for something that my mom taught me and some tricks they showed me that I couldve learned in a weekend .

My son was the first batch of Le Cordon Bleu students in Las Vegas in 2004 who graduated in 2006. I am still paying the Federal Loans and Private loans of over $50k at the 7% and 13% interests respectively. Is there any hope on his case?

Can you please aid me with starting a class action against Le Cordon Bleu Scottsdale?

Is this still Available?

I was a student at LCB WCI during this time period. I was never notified of this class action lawsuit. Is it possible to see if I qualify? Thanks

Thank you for all the info here. My son attended in California in 2008, finished in 2009. I sadly co-signed for a private loan that he was coerced into signing. He had a terrible accident in 2013 leaving him permanently disabled. Is going to school and has been able to defer loan until three months ago. In forbearance status. Is there any chance we could get out of this if we found an attorney in California who could plead the fraud case applying the case law and precedent you so successfully applied to the Le Cordon Bleu suit in Portland?

As a student during this time period at WCI in Portland, I was following this waiting to hear about it. I saw that it was delayed, and figured I would hear about it once settled. I heard nothing, until today when I was wondering about it and googled it. Why weren't the students affected contacted to file their claim? And now it's too late? This is incredibly disappointing as I had well over $30,000 in loans and tuition to them during this time. My SL debt is almost doubled now due to default, interest, and fees. The private loans they talked me into have been the worst possible financial damage to me. Is there really nothing to be done at this point?