Reuters
A lender owned by private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC was sued on Tuesday by several U.S. states, and accused of charging cash-strapped borrowers hundreds of millions of dollars for "hidden" add-on products that they never agreed to buy. Mariner Finance, with more than 480 offices in 27 states, was accused of engaging in "widespread credit insurance packing," by selling costly policies and other products without telling borrowers or even after being instructed not to. The plaintiffs - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Washington state and Washington, D.C. - also said Mariner encouraged employees to trick borrowers into refinancing loans unnecessarily, to generate higher fees and sell more add-ons.