Credit reports and credit scores are used widely in this country. Practically every financial activity somehow involves your credit score. If it’s wrong or lower than it should be, you can be charged additional fees and/or thousands more in interest. Right now, there are considerable disruptions in the financial world. …
While the Income Driven Payment application process is shut down (paper applications were being processed, but now they too are reportedly on hold), to be first in line when it restarts, we suggest a paper application be sent to your loan servicer so it’s in the queue, and be sure…
So the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is in the process of being shut down. I expect that private consumer claims will increase thereafter when consumers realize that the government will not be taking action to protect them through the CFPB, FTC or other entity. Many collection attorneys send out communications…
More and more signs are pointing toward bankruptcy being the best platform going forward to address student loans. Why? We can often discharge private and even federal student loans (if either an undue hardship exists or it’s an unqualified education loan); We can cure a default of a federal student…
So I’m hearing that President Trump is moving the federal student loan system over to the Small Business Administration (“SBA”). I’m also hearing today that they are cutting the SBA’s workforce by 40%. Interesting. I admit, I was expecting big changes, but I didn’t really have this on the bingo…
President Trump signed an executive order titled Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness a couple days ago. While this should have to go through the normal channel of rulemaking which will take approximately one year, it appears that PSLF will be excluded for non-profits which engage in a “substantial illegal purpose”…
As I blogged about a couple weeks ago, you can check the amount of IDR time you have been credited for on studentaid.gov now. If for any reason it is not there, a private company has released the VIN Foundation Download My IDR Progress browser extension for Chrome. It allows…
Today’s webinar went off without a hitch – link here. I tried to update our fellow attorneys on what we are seeing or hearing out there in our student loan world. Lots of changes, practically to everything in fact. Student Loan Essentials: Updates, Strategies, and Advocacy for Legal Aid Practitioners. …
I read today in the Pomp Letter that the average credit card balance is $21,000. And the average interest rate is 28.6%. Just wow. In 30 months, the debt would double. In our bankruptcy practice here in Tampa, Florida, we are regularly seeing people with 100k of credit card debt.…
So the big news in the world of student loans is that the online system has once again been shut down for consolidations and IDR applications – as of Friday, Feb 21. This is likely due to the 8th Circuit expanding its stay to stop all forgiveness under PAYE and…