Better Business Bureau Drops Trump University Rating to D- After Flood of Consumer Complaints

The Better Business Bureau issued Trump University a D- rating in 2010, the lowest rating the enterprise received during its active operations. The rating resulted from multiple consumer complaints the BBB received documenting deceptive practices, high-pressure sales tactics, and unfulfilled promises. Students complained that Trump University promised personal involvement from Trump in selecting instructors and developing curriculum, but this never materialized. The “mentors” were not the vetted experts students had been promised, and many students felt defrauded after paying thousands of dollars for courses that failed to deliver the advertised value. Trump would later falsely claim during his 2016 presidential campaign that Trump University had an A rating from the BBB, when in fact the D- rating from 2010 represented the organization’s actual performance during its operational period.

Background

The D- rating in 2010 reflected the BBB’s assessment of Trump University when the school was actively enrolling students and generating the most complaints. Student complaints detailed aggressive sales tactics that pressured vulnerable consumers into maxing out credit cards and depleting retirement savings to pay for expensive courses. The BBB’s rating system considers factors including complaint volume, complaint resolution, and business practices. Trump University’s D- rating indicated significant problems across multiple dimensions of consumer protection. Interestingly, after Trump University stopped taking new students and old complaints “rolled off the Business Review” after three years, the rating artificially improved to an A in July 2014—not because the business improved, but because no students meant no new complaints.

Significance

The D- BBB rating provided early warning of systematic consumer fraud at Trump University, documenting a pattern of deceptive practices and unfulfilled promises. The rating contradicted Trump’s later campaign claims of high satisfaction and quality education, revealing a documented record of consumer complaints during the enterprise’s active period. The fact that Trump repeatedly misrepresented the BBB rating during his 2016 campaign—claiming an A rating when the operational rating was D-—demonstrated his willingness to lie about documented consumer fraud. The BBB complaints corroborated what would later emerge in court testimony: Trump University systematically targeted and exploited vulnerable consumers, particularly the elderly and financially desperate, through high-pressure sales tactics designed to extract maximum revenue regardless of educational value delivered.