Discussion

• @parkert Parker Thompson on threads

  So you had “morally flexible” founder, with a bad business, a huge pile of money, in scale-mode.  The options were to forgive the bad loans and prove the business was bad, or squeeze borrowers AND get a lot more customers to demonstrate the business was working. …

• @anildash Anil Dash on threads

  Allred terrorized *so* many marginalized people in tech, including so many women of color who were incredibly patient and magnanimous in pointing out flaws in his approach, only to be treated like they had been hostile or abusive to him.  Though, apparently, he deserved to have b…

• @sandofsky@mastodon.social Ben Sandofsky on mastodon

  Wow.  The CEO of the predatory for-profit code bootcamp “Lambda School” was just personally fined $100k. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ ...

• @austen Austen Allred on x

  As you may have seen, BloomTech reached a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding ISAs (which we largely stopped using in 2021, and no longer offer today). We decided to settle the matter because it was clear that ongoing litigation would be extremely..…

• @paulg Paul Graham on x

  Coinbase and Bloom Tech illustrate the dangers of starting a startup in a regulated industry. When I was a kid I used to think that regulators (and prosecutors) were merely trying to protect everyone. What other motive could they have? But boy are they not.

• @chopracfpb Rohit Chopra on x

  Coding boot camp @bloomtech and its CEO Austin Allred deceived students about the cost of loans and making misleading claims about graduate hiring rates. Today, the @CFPB took action against them for deceiving the students that they were meant to help. https://www.consumerfinance…

• @smtuffy Sean Tuffy on x

  BloomTech didn't get dinged for doing scammy things and financially exploiting people. It got dinged for failing to properly disclose that it was doing those things. Which is a good summary of the US FinReg framework, tbh,

• @0xdeadlift Sam on x

  I think ISAs are good and work better than standard education loans but bragging about a 100% success rate for a sample size of a single person is just totally egregious [image]

• @sandofsky Ben Sandofsky on x

  Austen Allred, CEO of Lambda School, was just personally fined $100,000 for “Deceiving Students and Hiding Loan Costs,” and ordered to stop collecting from graduates. I think this saga is coming to a close. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ ...

• @rhunterh Hunter on x

  You just know these details were pitched to a room full of VCs giddily nodding along as the details of this ‘innovative financing’ were revealed. “It's a payday loan but you have to sit through 6 mos of Zoom calls first.” “Brilliant!” [image]

• @itsthatladydev @itsthatladydev on x

  I'm so happy to see this!!! “The order permanently bans BloomTech from all consumer-lending activities Allred from any student-lending activities for 10 years.” Love to finally see it!

• @nateafischer Nate Fischer on x

  The CFPB is one of the most corrupt agencies in DC. Anything they do should be presumed to reflect a political vendetta, rather than a genuine attempt to protect consumers.

• @eringriffith Erin Griffith on x

  CFPB found that BloomTech hid costs from students, inflated its job placement rate, SOLD many of its loans to other investors, and that its contracts were illegal. Lots of start-ups engage in hype & exaggeration and you'd think by now I've seen it all, but this one was a doozy: […

• @triketora Tracy Chou on x

  i hate this ilk of silicon valley “innovation” that defrauds innocent people (in disclosure: austen blocked me on twitter i think bc i made mildly critical commentary about him or his biz lol, but damn the cfpb has stepped in now)

• @cfpb @cfpb on x

  BloomTech and Allred must also stop collecting payments on income share loans for graduates without a qualifying job, eliminate finance changes for certain agreements, and let students withdraw without penalty, in addition to paying over $164,000 in civil penalties.

• @iamjasonlevin Jason Levin on x

  Lambda School aka BloomTech changed my life I was a broke English major, joined Lambda School and learned Python and SQL, and got a $90k/year job as a data engineer at Amex in 4 months. Extremely grateful for @austen for changing my life. If they didn't have an ISA... [image]

• @joshuasteinman Joshua Steinman on x

  I stand with @Austen and so can you. The US Government came after him because he threatens the temples of indoctrination. @bloomtech is a net good and has transformed thousands of lives. And will continue to do so. Glad the episode is now closed.

• @eringriffith Erin Griffith on x

  Austen Allred, founder of BloomTech (formerly Lamba School), a coding bootcamp that offered “income share” on future salaries in lieu of tuition is banned from student lending for 10 years and BloomTech must let students currently under contract withdraw. https://www.consumerfina…

• @kristyt Kristy Tillman on x

  Wow! “The order permanently bans BloomTech from all consumer-lending activities and bans Allred from any student-lending activities for ten years.” There is also a victim relief fund, and former students can withdraw agreements without penalty.

• @carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x

  Turns out Lamba School was actually a Trump University. Sad because I honestly they were going to help people from non-traditional backgrounds get into tech.

• @thogge Tyler Hogge on x

  bloomtech / lambda has helped many ppl I personally know break into high paying tech careers. We hired their graduates at Divvy. @Austen is a friend and has worked very hard to help people, especially underprivileged people, dramatically improve their life Rooting for Bloom

• @sandofsky Ben Sandofsky on x

  “Too much going on,” indeed. [image]

• @growing_daniel Daniel on x

  uhhh whoa. I knew someone who did lambda and had mixed feelings on it but it did get her a webdev job which is something she didn't have a real shot at before. So does this kill the company?

• @cfpb @cfpb on x

  The CFPB found that BloomTech and Allred falsely told students the school's “income share” agreement contracts were not loans, when in fact the agreements were loans carrying an average finance charge of around $4,000.

• @mrgoldbro Aidan Gold on x

  This attack on @Austen is just something for regulators to do than protecting consumers. @bloomtech has done incredible work to help people and that should be the focus. Feels like they are trying to stop an alternative college to protect the status quo.

• @cfpb @cfpb on x

  Today, the CFPB issued an order against BloomTech and its CEO, Austin Allred, for deceiving students about the cost of loans and making false claims about graduates' hiring rates. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ ...

• @spooky_jl @spooky_jl on x

  There is no way 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 [image]

• @kennybauf Ben Kaufman on x

  One part of this is that @CaBPPE ordered @bloomtech to cease & desist operating w/o a license in 2019, then totally backed off when BloomTech refused to stop operating Imagine how many people wouldn't have been harmed here if @CaBPPE hadn't been completely useless

• @mikulaja Jason Mikula on x

  Remember when coding boot camps financed through income share agreements were going to fix everything? @bloomtech fka Lambda School, which counts @ycombinator @GVteam (Google Ventures) @stripe as investors, and founder @Austen personally hit with CFPB enforcement action: [image]

• @brendaglasser Brenda Glasser on x

  Remember this guy... yeah I used to work for him and now there's been an order against him by the CFBP. Good luck bro. [image]

• @alistairmbarr Alistair Barr on x

  Coding boot camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred deceived students, US government agency says This follows several BI stories about the activities of @bloomtech , formerly known as Lambda School At one point, @Austen tweeted that the school achieved a 100% job-placement rate in..…

• @venikunche @venikunche on x

  FINALLY! The CFPB has permanently banned the coding bootcamp Lambda School/BloomTech from consumer-lending activities & their CEO, Allred, from any student-lending activities for 10 years Current students can withdraw and cancel their income share loans https://www.consumerfinanc…

• @cfpb @cfpb on x

  The order permanently bans BloomTech from all consumer-lending activities Allred from any student-lending activities for 10 years.

• @delk Ryan Delk on x

  It'd be fascinating to see a random sampling of ~10 accredited US universities evaluated with the same scrutiny as Lambda School. I wonder what the results would yield.

• @stevegraham Stevie Graham on x

  Reminder that you will not recoup legal costs suing the federal government. Litigating a purely administrative dispute with no discovery could run to a million dollars, way more if there is any. Remember this next time you see a “consent order”. Maybe the respondent decided it...

• @millennial_debt Mike Pierce on x

  Maybe that whole “aligning incentives” thing that everyone was boasting about ten years ago wasn't entirely on the level? Maybe innovation in private student lending isn't a panacea for higher education? Just asking questions... cc @AEI

• @thetechrally @thetechrally on x

  “We don't get paid until you do” is the biggest lie sold by coding bootcamps. Austen Allred, the CEO of BloomTech (previously Lambda School) is charged with $164,000 in penalties by the CFPB Personally, glad these predatory tactics are FINALLY being punished. More to go [image]

• r/codingbootcamp r on reddit

  BloomTech CEO fined $100,000 for “Deceiving Students”, must stop collecting payments