If we're not expressly told something is wrong...

Today's These Bastards Business Ethics lesson comes to us from the student lending industry...

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced today that eight student loan companies have signed on to a code of conduct meant to clearly define fair or foul when it comes to courting borrowers.

Some of the companies sent out solicitations to students that were “designed to look like they come from the federal government,” according to the attorney general’s office, while others advertised interest rates not available to most borrowers. Others offered prizes and ran contests to lure student borrowers.

That's not even the half of it. According to the statement from the AG's office, these companies were guilty of everything short of promising prospective students that the loans came with Free-Head-For-Life cards. A more comprehensive list of the lenders' predatory bullshit is below the fold. Before reading, please note that these companies had to be suspected, investigated, found ethically lacking, and then coerced into agreeing that the following tactics were off-limits...

--using logos and return addresses that made it look like the lender's solicitation to consumers was from the federal government or the student's current lender;

--mailing fake checks or false rebates offers on current loans to entice students to take out loans;

--giving inducements to students, such as gift cards, iPods, and GPS devices, to distract students from focusing on the (sometimes onerous) terms of the higher education loans being promoted;

--offering inducements to students to convince their friends to take out loans with particular lenders;

--making false and misleading representations as to the advantages of private student loans over lower-cost federal loans;

--providing illustrations of loan costs or terms that are available only to a tiny fraction of borrowers without disclosing that fact;

--failing to guarantee that advertised borrower benefits, such as discounts on the interest rate of the loan during the repayment phase of the loan, follow with the loan, regardless of who purchases the loan in the future.