Is there a financial pardon act eliminating over $15,000 in individual debt for Americans? No, that's not true: The claim is an advertisement for a "reference tool" that Internet users can use to supposedly find financial assistance.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post on June 21, 2022 with a video. The caption reads:
In the greatest financial act ever passed, millions of Americans can have their debt eliminated with financial pardon until June 30th! Simply click on Learn more to get started!
The people featured in the video claim there is a financial pardon that can cover over $15,000 in debt. The post includes a link for viewers to "learn more" about the act.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Jun 29 14:50:53 2022 UTC)
There is no financial pardon being enacted by the federal government that eliminates over $15,000 in debt for Americans. Additionally, the word "pardon" is commonly used to refer to an executive action that exempts an individual from punishment that would have resulted from a federal crime. Lead Stories searched for the term "financial pardon" using Congress.gov, Ballotpedia and Google, and did not find any results that supported the claim.
The link in the Facebook post sends viewers to thedailyfund.com, a non-government website that serves as a "reference tool" -- a phrase used in the website's disclaimer -- for users to supposedly receive financial assistance. The disclaimer also says that "Videos are paid actor representative testimonials." A screenshot of the website and another screenshot of the website's disclaimer are included below:
(Source: thedailyfund.com screenshot taken on Wed Jun 29 15:14:08 2022 UTC)
(Source: thedailyfund.com screenshot taken on Wed Jun 29 15:14:56 2022 UTC)
Lead Stories has previously debunked similar advertisements and websites that have been posted to Facebook, including a fact check of one website that appeared very similar to the business whose ad is discussed in this fact check.
