Office of the West Virginia Attorney General - Press Releases
Official Press Releases from the Office of the West Virginia Attorney General

• Attorney General Darrell McGraw Settles with Online “Credit Services” Organization, Resulting in Refunds Totaling $9,400 for 58 WV Consumers
  Today, Attorney General McGraw’s office announced a settlement agreement in which PCS agreed to refund $9,400.00 to 58 West Virginia consumers who had also been misled by the company. The service of helping consumers obtain loans, known as “credit services,” is highly regulated by state and federal law. In West Virginia, companies offering such assistance must first be registered with the West Virginia Secretary of State and are not permitted to accept any payment before services are rendered unless they post a $15,0000.00 surety bond.
• Attorney General McGraw Settles with Fisher Price, Mattel for Selling Lead Contaminated Toys in West Virginia
  Today, Attorney General Darrell McGraw entered into a settlement with toy manufacturers, Mattel and Fisher Price. The settlement, filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court, will result in additional protections for West Virginia children from exposure to dangerous levels of lead in toys.
• Attorney General McGraw Warns Consumers To Be Cautious When Purchasing Gift Cards During This Holiday Season
  With “Black Friday” approaching and West Virginia consumers heading to retail outlets across the state, Attorney General Darrell McGraw warns West Virginia consumers to be cautious when purchasing gift cards this holiday shopping season.
• Attorney General McGraw Announces Concealed Handgun Reciprocity Agreement With Louisianna
  Charleston, WV - Attorney General Darrell McGraw today announced a concealed weapons reciprocity agreement with the state of Louisiana. This is the latest in the ongoing efforts of Attorney General Darrell McGraw to negotiate agreements with states across the nation. <br />
• Attorney General McGraw Settles With Data Collection Company; Improved Privacy Safeguards Adopted As Result
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw today announced a settlement that requires safeguards for the collection and use of student personal information. The agreement was reached as a result of a multistate investigation that included 35 other states and the District of Columbia. The states alleged that Educational Research Center of America, Inc. (“ERCA”), a New Jersey company, offered gift cards to educators for distributing student surveys and collected student personal information in surveys but failed to disclose to students and their parents how to opt out of sharing the personal information.
• Attorney General McGraw Announces Settlement with WV Vein & Skin Centers; $93,000 Refunded to WV Consumers.
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced today that his office entered into a settlement agreement with West Virginia Vein and Skin Centers (“WVVSC”), which resulted in $20,530.54 in refunds and $72,582.18 in canceled debts for 52 West Virginia consumers. McGraw’s office opened an investigation of WVVSC, which has offices in Charleston and Beckley, after receiving a complaint questioning the addition of interest to the amount owed for services rendered by a consumer who was sued.
• Attorney General McGraw Obtains Cancellation of $6.6 Million in Credit Card Debt for 1,451 WV Consumers
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced today that his office entered a settlement agreement with Financial Credit Services (“FCS”), a debt purchaser based in Palatine, Illinois, that netted canceled debts of $6,675,474.64 for 1,451 West Virginia consumers. According to FCS, the defaulted credit card accounts in question were originally owed to numerous main stream credit card banks, including Bank One, Citifinancial, Chase, GE Capital, Household, MNBA, and Providian.<br />
• Attorney General McGraw Sues California-based Internet Lender for "Sham" to Avoid State Regulations In Predatory Loans
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw saw the irony, but not the humor, in CashCallÂ’s national ads featuring one-time child star, Gary Coleman, of the popular television show, 'DiffÂ’rent Strokes,' exclaiming enthusiastically, 'I love you CashCall' and 'CashCall youÂ’re awesome.'
• Attorney General McGraw Stops Florida Collection Agency From Threatening Consumers With Coercive Collection Practices
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw filed suit today in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County against Charles Howell & Associates, ('Howell'), a Florida collection agency, and its President, Gregory Wells of Tampa, Florida, for unlawful, coercive debt collection practices.
• Attorney General McGraw Issues Subpoenas In Gasoline Price Gouging Investigation
  After receiving more than 200 telephone calls from people complaining of unreasonable gasoline price hikes, Attorney General Darrell McGraw issued investigative subpoenas seeking invoices and information from retailers to determine whether such price hikes were unlawful.
• Deputy Attorney Generals Clear Up Misconception About Oxycontin Suit
  Individuals working on behalf of the National Chamber of Commerce and its attack dog group Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse have been misinforming Gazette readers about the Attorney General's OxyContin lawsuit in particular and his pro-consumer litigation in general.
• Attorney General McGraw Continues His Success in Halting the Making and Collection of Payday Loans in WV. $1.57Million in total relief to date.
  When Attorney General Darrell McGraw directed his office to investigate the Internet payday lending industry in 2005, few states had dared to assert their authority over the industry at that time. Notwithstanding the obvious hurdles, McGrawÂ’s investigations of dozens of Internet payday lenders and their collection agencies have been very successful, prompting other states to enforce their laws regulating or prohibiting payday loans.<br />
• Attorney General McGraw Reaches Agreement with Three More "Debt Settlement" Companies; Refunds of $375K to 141 WV Consumers
  Melissa Mahaney of Nitro, along with the 25 other Charleston area consumers who called a company listed in their local phone book as “Consumer Credit Counseling, Charleston, 347-8828', believed they were calling Consumer Credit Counseling Services of the Kanawha Valley (“CCCS”), a long-standing locally based non-profit credit counseling agency. CCCS has five branch offices in Southern West Virginia and has been located in the Kanawha Valley since 1964. Unfortunately the number listed in the Charleston phone book rang into a call center of Consumer Credit Counseling of America, Inc. (“CCCA”) of North Andover, Massachusetts.
• Attorney General McGraw Settles with Five More Collection Agencies; $1Million in Refunds for 492 West Virginia Consumers
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw's scrutiny of the sometimes unscrupulous debt collection industry demonstrates that the complaints of a few abused persons may lead to consumer justice for the many.
• Attorney General McGraw Warns Public of Fake Internet Loan Collectors Impersonating Law Enforcement Officers and Extorting Money From Consumers
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw took the extraordinary step today of warning the public about a band of scam artists making threats to consumers who allegedly obtained Internet payday loans in West Virginia and across the nation. The consumers they threaten never obtained a loan at all or paid it off years ago.
• Attorney General McGraw Sues Countrywide for Inducing Consumers to Take Out Loans They Couldn't Afford
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw filed suit today against Countrywide Financial Corporation, Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., Countrywide Home Loans Servicing, LP, Full Spectrum Lending, Inc. and Angelo R. Mozilo, individually and as CEO of Countrywide Financial Corporation.
• Attorney General McGraw Reaches Agreement with Sears Roebuck & Co. On Home Improvement Products
  Attorney General Darrell McGraw today announced an agreement with Sears Holdings Corporation ('Sears') to resolve allegations that the company was failing to comply with West Virginia law in its sales of products and home improvements to West Virginia consumers.
• Attorney General McGraw Announces Free Credit Monitoring Service Under Terms of Settl