Washington, Nov. 30, 2016 — A group of defendants who falsely promised to reduce consumers’ credit card interest rates will be banned from telemarketing and from selling debt relief services, and the payment processors who enabled them to bilk more than $12 million from consumers will be banned from the payment processing industry under settlements with the Federal Trade Commission and the State of Florida. The settlements resolve the action brought by the agencies against the two groups of defendants in 2015 and 2016.