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Don’t forget to register and put tomorrow’s (9/1/20) TBBBA consumer Zoom lunch at noon on your calendar. An attendee link was blasted out to all Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association members.
This month we have Ha Dao and Barbara Leon presenting: The Intersection of Bankruptcy and Estate Planning: How to Protect your Clients in this Life and Beyond. Examples of some questions to be covered include:
  • What happens to my inheritance if my parents, grandparents, etc. die while I’m in bankruptcy?
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angel-wings-scaledI don’t have kids of my own, but if I did, I would absolutely talk with Kellyann below about how best to do this.  She’s full of good ideas on virtual learning, homeschooling, tutoring, socialization.  Ideas that could really help right now!  Check out her Collaborative Classroom Cubes on her website for instance:

Home2SchoolConnection.com

Kellyann Goring has 22 years of elementary teaching experience plus a bunch of years doing tech integrations and teaching teachers how to use tech in their classrooms.  Full disclaimer:  this is a plug for my sister in law — but I felt what she is doing is perfect right now and I hope very helpful to parents, students and even teachers!!

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TBBBAThe TBBBA is entering the Zoom age for the Consumer Lunches starting at Noon August 4 and continuing the first Tuesday of every month. The Zoom coordinates will be sent later in a TBBBA email blast.
It’s bring your own lunch – but no commute! CLE credit.
First up is: The Intersection of Bankruptcy and Tenant rights: Monetizing FDCPA and FCCPA claims for tenants.
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We’re investigating this company for potential violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), among other things, and I ran across their Better Business Bureau reviews.

I’ve never seen so many 1 star reviews!  They’ve been in business for 48 years, are a major debt collector for universities and colleges for student loan debt.  Some of these reviews say they would have given a ZERO review if possible, stating they are the worst

The reviews  stem from ECSI charging a service charge for a single payment; misrepresenting the facts on credit reports and making collection calls even when an account is current, and lots more…

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What are the most common errors on a credit report that lead to FCRA claims — and resulting damages?

  1. Status Disputes – error/inaccuracy standards which give rise to valid disputes:
  • these are things that are factually inaccurate such as:
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Along with the PPP (Payroll Protection Program) another fed run program rolled out this week called Main Street to provide low-cost loans to firms with fewer than 15,000 workers.  The Main Street launch has received a luke warm welcome from community banks due to the paperwork required per an American Bankruptcy Institute article today, but basically the lender has a 95% backstop from the federal government in event of default.

I wonder why the lukewarm interest from community banks?  My guess is that they much prefer PPP for their clients, which is a 100% forgiveable loan, and has been extended recently to allow for forgiveness for 24 weeks of payroll rather than just eight, for those businesses who were under shut down orders for the first couple months and couldn’t bring back their workers.  Since PPP funds are still available and the application deadline is not until the end of June, of course that sounds like a much better alternative.  Plus, we have found that community banks did a far better job than larger banks in getting approvals from the SBA.

But for those who need funds that will be spent for things not covered under PPP, this may be an excellent alternative.

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In our consumer practice, I was surprised to see that denials of life insurance or annuities are often a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).  The medical screening reports are often ad hoc and inaccurate.

If you have applied for life insurance and been denied, don’t give up.  Instead, check your report with Medical Information Bureau (“MIB”).  You may find that it’s patched together and has information well over the allowed seven years or contains otherwise inaccurate diagnosis.

Prescriptions and your Rx history are tracked by Milliman INtelliscript based out of Brookfield, Illinois – 871-211-4816.

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Some creditors and loan servicers are jumping the gun in pursuing foreclosures, HOA liens, COA liens.  The federal government is also taking the position that it’s okay to pursue cases already in litigation.  We had to file a motion to abate arguing that the moratorium preventing involuntary collection activity includes cases already in litigation — which is well supported by case law.

None of these things should happening while the moratoriums are still in place.  For mortgages and tenant evictions in Florida, that means we are in a holding pattern until July 2 when the foreclosure and eviction moratorium is set to expire.  This includes actions on other liens as well.  Florida Statute Section 702.09 defines mortgages to include HOA and COA liens so they have to put things in park, same as other traditional mortgages.

It also appears that certain banks are not honoring mandatory forbearance requirements — if you have received any messages, letters or phone calls re: SPECIAL FORBEARANCE options, please reach out to us asap to help make sure that this goes smoothly.

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