Feds announce $54M settlement, ban against area payday lenders

The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement Tuesday that bans payday loan companies tied to a pair of Johnson County men from engaging in lending and imposes judgments totaling $54 million. The FTC settlements come after charges that Timothy A. Coppinger, Frampton T. Rowland III and their companies made loans to consumers without their knowledge and then extracted finance charges that did not pay down loan principal owed. FTC officials said the men and their companies also defrauded people…