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arkovich_law-narrowCredit reports have more errors than ever right now.  Student loans, car loans, really – any kind of credit out there, is often reported inaccurately on your credit reports. It costs you nothing to have us take a look.  Our Fair Credit Reporting Act cases are ALL on a contingency basis – no fees/costs unless we are successful.  Our clients are netting significant settlements – money that you can use to pay off other debt – or start a family/business, whatever you’ve always wanted to do, but never had a lump sum saved to take the plunge.

Take these steps and let’s work together to get it done!

  • Go to annualcreditreport.com
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Christie_1I just became aware of a new procedure to provide “an intent to separate a joint consolidation loan” when a client received this:

As you are already aware, you and XX have a FFEL Joint Consolidation Loan. ED has indicated that FFEL Joint Consolidation Loan borrowers who take the necessary steps to separate their loans will receive the benefit of the one-time IDR account adjustment, even if the application does not become available until after the adjustment occurs in 2024. The adjustment will be applied retroactively for both borrowers when both applied to separate their joint consolidation loan. For separate applications, the remaining co-borrower who did not apply to separate the joint debt will not receive this benefit until and unless the borrower applies to consolidate the remaining loan into a Direct Consolidation Loan.

You must notify the ED Ombudsman Group of your intent to apply for separation of your joint consolidation loan by contacting ED’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) at:

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arkovich_law-narrowLenders will often try to get a note and mortgage into evidence with a simple endorsement in blank of the promissory note.  This can be defeated.

The mortgage is the issue.

A mortgage follows a “note” but a mortgage does not follow a non-negotiable instrument. Since Florida Statutes Ch. 673 does not apply, the transfer of the mortgage is governed by chapter 679, which requires a written assignment. The attempted transfer of the non-negotiable instrument should be ignored.

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cramdown-picWe write a column – that has become 1-2 pages due to all the stuff going on — called the Student Loan Sidebar in our local Cramdown publication to all bankruptcy practitioners including debtor attorneys, the creditors’ bar and our judiciary.

Because not everyone has access to this publication, we also have a copy added to our home page of our website.  Here is the Spring Sidebar:

https://www.christiearkovich.com/files/student-loan-summer-2023.pdf

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arkovich_law-narrowThe United States Trustee Program (USTP) has resumed audits of individual chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy cases under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 on March 13 ,2023.

What does this mean if your case is selected?

The USTP contracts with independent firms, utilizing certified public accountants and independent licensed public accounts, to perform audits of individual chapter 7 and chapter 13 cases randomly selected by the USTP. The purpose of the audit is to determine the accuracy, veracity, and completeness of petitions, schedules, and other information required to be provided by the debtor under sections 521

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SouthTampaWorkspace1Our ad came out in the Hillsborough County Lawyer Magazine today for our new Workspaces in South Tampa.  Yay!  During the pandemic when our team started working remotely, we fully renovated our office space to offer a “sometimes” office as needed for both us and our colleagues.  We offer several different packages, from a simple mailbox/reception services to a place to sit with a laptop, an office (with a door!) a few days a month with some conference room time, to a fixed office that only you occupy.  Come and go as you please with your door code, easy online reservations and payment, free ample parking and lots of services like high speed scanning, wide-screen monitors, shredding and notary, extra comfy and professional desk/chairs, sitting areas, a pub kitchen and more!  Come and check us out if you are a professional/attorney and are in need of a place to be occasionally or full-time!

We’re a little different than a larger co-working space because we understand the needs of our attorneys, have cross-referral networking opportunities, and don’t nickel and dime the small stuff.  Also, no binding year long contract.

SouthTampaWorkspaces.com  – more pics and pricing.

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arkovich_law-narrowA bankruptcy claims trading platform called Xclaim just closed a $7 million fund raising round after adding a focus toward crypto claims.

If you have funds stuck in one of several centralized crypto related companies which filed bankruptcy last year, this may be of interest to you.  I have no recommendation of this firm and have never used it:  x-claim.com.

  • Genesis – up to 52.5%
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arkovich_law-narrow“It is now time”, states Judge Klein who is charting a path for discharging student loans without being reversed.  For years, bankruptcy judges were wary of ruling in favor of debtors who asked for a discharge of federal student loan debt.  In part, because those Judges knew their rulings would be appealed by either the Department of Education, or ECMC (guarantor litigator for the older FFEL loans).  Now it’s different.

In an opinion just out on April 5 (Love v U.S. Dep’t of Education, Fedloan Servicing, Nelnet; Adv. 21-02045-C), Judge Klein decried the “widespread belief that student loans are virtually impossible to discharge in bankruptcy.”  Now there is an attestation process, whereby a debtor can use factors like:

  • School closure
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One of the little known facts in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, is that someone can repay a vehicle loan using the Till rate of interest rather than contract rate, as well as value the vehicle at it’s current market value.  That can be important if the vehicle is “underwater” and more is owed than what it is actually worth.

But what exactly is a Till Rate?  And why has it been going up over the past couple years?  Do we expect it to drop back down?  After all, it was incredibly low for so many years.

The Till Rate, or Trustee rate, is a presumptive interest rate used in chapter 13 cases paying off secured debts over the life of the Chapter 13 Plan. The rate takes its name from the  Supreme Court case Till v. SCS Credit Corp., which affirmed the notion that interest in chapter 13 was the combination of a risk factor and the prime rate.  The Till rate is calculated from the Wall Street Journal “Prime” rate, plus 1.5.

EFFECTIVE DATE RANGE TILL RATE
03/23/2023 9.50%
02/02/2023 9.25%
12/15/22 9.00%
11/3/2022 8.50%
9/22/22 7.75%
7/28/22 7.00%
6/16/22 6.25%
5/5/22 5.50%
3/17/22 5.00%
3/17/20 4.75%

There are so many things that can be done in a bankruptcy, whether Chapter 7 or 13.  For instance, did you know that we can even reduce or eliminate federal student loans now with the new DOJ guidance?  We helped teach an all day class on that to our fellow attorneys last week.

Come talk with us if you’d like to know more about how a bankruptcy filing can help dig you out of a hole.

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