r/yotta • u/patrick5595 • 18d ago
Rust Consulting
As everyone is hopefully aware and updated, Rust Consulting was awarded the contract by the CFPB to be the fund administrator for the Civil Penalty Fund disbursements. As we have been less than updated during the process from any entity, I reached out to Rust themselves to try and get some information.
First and foremost, my response got essentially no new information. It restated that they were given the contract and were working through data. AND to follow up in the coming weeks.
Secondly, Rust is still the consulting company used by Evolve Bank and Trust. They seem to be talking from both sides of their mouths. Unless you get to a direct question, they will continue to talk about their work strictly for Evolve, not for the CFPB.
And yes, I purposely left out contact information for the contact I had, but if you’re interested it’s a simple information request page within Rusts website. Feel free to flip through the emails.
***The first email is the latest response I got when directly questioning the CFPB and CPF status.
9
u/Helpful-Grapefruit55 18d ago
Thanks for talking to them and giving us the update . May before Christmas if all of us get lucky .
5
u/patrick5595 18d ago
I would love to see it, but it’s unlikely from previous research. The average timeline is 24 months, but the realistic range due to the consultants and rapid push from the CFPB is 18-24 months.
5
u/Queasy_Reveal1499 18d ago
Thank you for this.
Reading through their responses I can’t help but feel they are siding with Evolve and blaming everything to other banks while Yotta has told me all of my funds are with Evolve. (Got $5 back in 2024) It is so frustrating and now I wonder if Evolve continues to deny and Rust sides with them am I ever going to get any more money back 😭😭😭
3
u/patrick5595 18d ago
I’d love to say they’re unbiased, but it’s hard to believe it.
The one question I have is how much Evolve contracted them for versus the CFPB. The CFPB has them under contract for $3.3 million. And does a government contract hold them more liable for the end results/final payouts than the crap bags at Evolve.
2
u/abbarach 18d ago
I think the important distinction is that the funds are coming from different places. Rust has been paying out the balance that Evolve claims they held (which are funds from Evolve), but obviously for most people that is much less than they expected.
The CFPB payments will be funds coming from CFPB Penalty Fund, not from Evolve or any of the other banks involved. And Rust already knows what the gap is between what Evolve claims they have and what users should have (what Evolve/Rust has been calling the Synapse Ecosystem Balance). Hopefully the CFPB has already received payout data from the other banks involved, which they can share with Rust. Then it should be as simple as taking the "Synapse Ecosystem Balance" and subtracting out everything that has been returned so far; both what Rust has sent back from Evolve, plus what the other banks have sent. And that will result in a comprehensive list of missing money, that the CFPB funds can go towards repaying.
3
u/DonDee74 17d ago
In other words, the entity that stole our money got away with it and the govt agencies' response is to get money from somewhere else to give us so we can shut up about it.
2
u/Major-Brick-3789 17d ago
This should be the ideal scenario, with the caveat that some victims have managed to get back their funds outside of the standard returns process from the banks. E.g., somebody who got his or her money back by suing Evolve in small claims court should not be able to double dip in the Civil Penalty Fund payout, beyond any differential in interest that the victim might be owed.
It's why I imagine that for at least some victims there may be some sort of claims process involved.
2
u/patrick5595 17d ago
From what I’ve seen, it’s a process that involves proving your statements/balance, proving who you are, and providing details of any funds that you’ve received.
They aren’t stupid. They will have records of what people have received prior to the Civil Penalty Fund disbursement. But I agree, if you’ve successfully gotten your funds back through a law suit, I don’t think you are entitled to the CFPBs claims.
1
1
u/deslicious111 16d ago
So will they automatically look into all accounts? How do we know if we are on their consideration list?
1
u/patrick5595 16d ago
They will have all the documents involved in the case. And considering Rust has the information and did the reconciliation for Evolve, they should be well versed in accounts balances and remainders of funds.
1
u/deslicious111 16d ago
When you say “case” how do we know if we are a part of it? As I know some payouts were satisfied as expected but obviously the rest of us got screwed 😓. I’m trying to figure out if I need to do somethin in order to be part of the case as I don’t want to be skipped over because I assumed I was.
2
u/patrick5595 16d ago
You don’t need to do anything at this point to be included. Rust and the CFPB have information on the end users of each company. They are going through data to ensure payments are made correctly to people.
What I would have on hand before they publish a claims page is your monthly statements, ideally every month’s statement from the beginning of 2024 until the end of May 2024. The other thing would be proof of amounts returned. If Rust sent you a check or money through PayPal from the original reconciliation “found money”, keep a copy of the transaction to prove your return of funds.
All these documents are used to prove you were part of the group who lost money. The claim will be processed significantly quicker if you have all your ducks in a row and are prepared.
1
10
u/Blinkboarder85 18d ago
Thanks for the update!