According to court documents, Geist also had students sign promissory notes for the loans without showing them details, informed students they were being awarded with false loans, and granted students sham loans from the school for their personal expenses that were actually federal loans. (studentloans.net)
Private lenders typically require students to sign promissory notes for each separate loan that they take out. (investopedia.com)
They had to do this because the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) required they the they register all loans through their platforms as promissory notes with the U.S. government. (cnafinance.com)