BUSINESS BRIEFING

A San Clemente debt-collection company has agreed to pay $2.55 million to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of Pennsylvania residents who say they were wrongly led to believe they had to pay costly fees to avoid criminal charges for bouncing checks.

American Corrective Counseling Services admits no wrongdoing as part of the settlement approved in Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The company sent out letters as recently as last winter purporting to be from various Pennsylvania district attorneys’ offices to people who bounced checks.