Published on:

By

national-mort-settlement
During the financial crisis, many banks, especially Bank of America, N.A., received credit under the National Mortgage Settlement Act when they wrote off an underwater second mortgage.  This was very common in Florida because many 80/20 mortgages were written around 2004-2007 and values crashed in 2008.

However, now years later, homeowners are finding out that the banks never filed the appropriate document in official records to wipe out the second mortgage:  this would be called a Satisfaction.  Some homeowners are unable to sell their home without now paying or otherwise resolving this released debt, or are even being sued for the debt.

It is likely that this is a violation of our consumer protection laws, specifically the FDCPA and FCCPA.  These laws allow for statutory and actual damages as well as attorney’s fees.  It is unknown how widespread this may become.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpg
Part II:  What can people do when they have private student loan debt?

Private loans don’t have any government programs like federal loans do – payments are not based upon income, there is no debt forgiveness and no protections for someone who becomes disabled and cannot work.  However, they will settle.  They key is to put them in the position of wanting or having to settle.  How we do this is we help our client track consumer collection law violations.

How many times do they call you a day?  Do they call your cell phone after you’ve told them not to?  Do they call you at work after you’ve told them not to?  Do they call before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.?  Do they discuss your debt with third parties?  All of that is potentially illegal under the FDCPA, FCCPA and the TCPA and provides us with leverage to settle a debt and ways to escalate the conversation to a decision maker with higher authority to negotiate a settlement.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpgThe tax landscape for student loan forgiveness is constantly shifting.  Earlier this year we blogged about disability discharges of federal student loan debt no longer considered taxable.  Discharges in bankruptcy for either federal loans under a Brunner challenge or non-qualified private student loans that don’t meet the definitions for discharge protection are both non-taxable events.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for federal loans also provides a tax free total forgiveness after ten years of qualifying payments.  Talk to us if you have questions about whether your loans qualify, your employment qualifies, or your payments qualify.  There are sticky questions that may prevent relief after years of payments if done wrong.

The IRS also allows for tax relief for taxpayers who took out federal student loans for attendance at Corinthian Colleges and other schools owned by American Career Institutes (ACI) and were granted a discharge under the Defense to Repayment program.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpgJust now, I got off the phone with a very sophisticated potential client who is facing a garnishment for his federal loans.  This was a very intelligent person and well respected in his field, but he didn’t really know much about how the student loan system worked.  His closing comment to me before we ended the call was “What a productive phone call!”  I often hear “I wish I had called you years ago, I’d be that much further ahead”.

I mention this because due to high demand, we now have to charge for our student loan consultations – $175.

But we offer a Guarantee:

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpgMatt Taibbi with Rolling Stone, wrote a recent piece called “The Great College Loan Swindle” that outlines how we got here.  It started with sales pitches that colleges make to kids – comparisons of salaries of those with high school diplomas to those with 4 yr degrees.  The value of that degree over a lifetime of earnings.  Investing in yourself was a common phrase used by for-profit colleges.  It creates a vicious cycle, everyone feels obligated to go to college, most everyone who can go does, and then you have a glut of graduates which is where we are now.  And this isn’t limited to just the student.  Parents wanting to help their kids every way they can, co-sign on loans they cannot possibly repay, or sign their own loans called Parent Plus loans.  Parent Plus loans do not take into consideration the income and employability of the parent or grandparent who applies for the loan.  Not surprisingly, Parent Plus loans have been cited by the CFPB as having extremely high default rates.

So Step 1, convince everyone a college degree is necessary in life.

Step 2: make it easy to borrow the money.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

The Fraudsters radio show interviewed me this week for about an hour on how consumers can arm themselves and proactively protect their credit report, stop or fix violations, and obtain damages for violations under the TCPA, FDCPA, FCCPA and the FCRA.  Here’s a direct link to the interview about how we can help clients with these claims to settle or eliminate debt.

Published on:

By

robocalls
From time to time, our consumer law practice here in Tampa, Fl has had to shift gears to better use our state and federal laws that protect consumers faced with debt – and the inevitable robocalls and erroneous credit reports that come with that.

The current state of robocalls is very similar to the days of emails before spam filters.  With the advent of the internet, businesses don’t need expensive hardware.  Anyone can start a mini call center with software that auto dials and spoofs caller IDs.  Many of the calls appear local and they avoid detection as a debt collector.  Small and large companies both still use predictive dialers capable of making hundreds of thousands of calls daily despite a consumer withdrawing consent to call their cell phone.

Thankfully, over the next year or two, the FCC and phone companies will implement a call certification protocol where the phone carrier can verify the caller is legitimately using the number — and Caller IDs may once again mean something!

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpgFlorida is a state that allows professional licenses to be suspended for non-payment of federal student loans.  We had a client who came to us last month after having her LPN license suspended.  This is even worse than a garnishment.  Rather than 15% of her wages being garnished, which is difficult enough for most clients, she’s receiving NO pay.  And her job could be at risk if she is replaced.

It took 2-3 weeks, but we fixed her federal student loan default, got her onto an affordable income based plan and lifted the suspension order.  Fortunately, our client was able to retain her job.

Don’t wait to cure federal student loan defaults!

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpgToday, a client elected to have us settle her defaulted federal student loans in full by payment from her 401k.  While we normally don’t recommend using protected 401k monies to settle debt, this particular client makes too much for debt forgiveness.  A settlement now will likely result in 10% reduction in principal and waiver of the 25% collection fees since she is in default.

While you normally cannot settle federal student loans, there is an opportunity to do so when the loans are in default and a hardship exists.  So by paying them now from her 401k, she’ll likely see a 1/3 reduction in her loan balance.  Put another way, that’s a 35% return!

The average interest rate on federal student loans is also 6.8%.  Most people are not getting those rates with CDs, money markets, stocks and bonds.  So paying off the federal loans often makes sense from this perspective as well.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpgAn Iowa appellate court ruled recently that a Income Driven Plan with a zero payment “does not ameliorate the undue hardship”.

In In re Martin, out of the Northern District in Iowa (8th Circuit) the lender argued that the debtor was not entitled to discharge the loans because she would qualify for an income-based repayment program, or IBRP, where she would qualify for a zero payment.  In 20 or 25 years, whatever is left on the loans would be forgiven, but the forgiveness could be considered taxable income.

In 20 or 25 years, the debtor would be 70 or 75 years old, and whatever savings she amassed would be consumed by the maturing tax liability.  In other words, Judge Collins said, the “tax liability could wipe out all of debtor’s assets not as she is approaching retirement, but as she is in the midst of it.”

Continue reading →
Contact Information
1520 W Cleveland St
Tampa, FL 33606
Phone: (813) 258-2808
Fax: (813) 258-5911
The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask us to send you free written information about our qualifications and experience. This website is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of an attorney / client relationship.

We are a Debt Relief Agency under the United States Bankruptcy Code. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code.

Copyright © 2015 – 2018, Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design