BBB: Sorry Donald, Trump University Does Not Have An ‘A’ Rating

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the University of Iowa Field House, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The Better Business Bureau on Tuesday disputed claims from Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump about his now-defunct business, Trump University, and clarified that it does not currently have an “A” rating.

The BBB explained in a statement that the elevation of Trump University’s grade from a “D-” to an “A+” was the result of no additional complaints being filed after the business was “winding down,” as well as the BBB’s policy of a three year roll-over period of complaints against a business.

“During the period when Trump University appeared to be active in the marketplace, BBB received multiple customer complaints about this business,” the statement read. “These complaints affected the Trump University BBB rating, which was as low as D- in 2010. As the company appeared to be winding down, after 2013, no new complaints were reported. Complaints over three years old automatically rolled off of the Business Review, according to BBB policy. As a result, over time, Trump University’s BBB rating went to an A in July 2014 and then to an A+ in January 2015.”

The BBB added that it no longer considers Trump University to be an “active business.” The business was never accredited by the BBB and has had no rating since September 2015.

The BBB also disputed Trump’s claim that it sent its current ratings for Trump University to the site of last Thursday’s Republican presidential debate. Following a heated exchange between moderator Megyn Kelly and Trump about the company, the real estate mogul approached her during a commercial break to hand over what he said was the business’ updated rating. The statement clarified that the BBB did not send anything to the debate site.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Drumpf: I pay no attention to BBB as there are just too many B in there. I rather take advise from AA/AAA.

  2. LOL

    This is like saying “hey, my dead grandfather stopped writing bad checks after he died. So he has a great record when it comes to not bouncing checks in recent years.”

  3. So essentially the BBB is saying that the only way TU could get an A+ rating was to go out of business. Makes sense.

    Other businesses with A+ BBB ratings include Trump Airlines, Trump Mortgage, etc.

  4. For a solid decade Scarlett Johansson has never once turned me down for a date.

  5. Watch Drumpf get his shirt ruined over this at every debate.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

32 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for codegen86 Avatar for lestatdelc Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for ajaykalra Avatar for mmurdoch Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for deckbose Avatar for fargo116 Avatar for bluestatedon Avatar for trnc Avatar for inlabsitrust Avatar for inversion Avatar for calone1 Avatar for okay Avatar for denisj Avatar for ottnott Avatar for dave_mb Avatar for beachgirlinland Avatar for beattycat Avatar for misterneutron Avatar for albesure Avatar for readerfromcalif Avatar for tiowally

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: