On July 29, 2015 the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and National Association of Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) jointly filed a court document arguing a position in support of discharging student loans through the bankruptcy laws. Much thanks to the readers and tipster who slipped me the document. The matter of dealing with overwhelming student loan …
by Marian Wang ProPublica The Department of Education has been transferring large batches of federal student loans to new loan-servicing companies — leaving in the lurch some borrowers who are suddenly encountering problems with their loans, such as payments that are mysteriously adjusted up or down. The switch, which has been going on for months …
Consumers Union and a bunch of other groups have submitted a letter to the CFPB to ask that consumers have easy access to complaints filed against companies. Washington D.C.- A coalition of consumer, civil rights, good government, and community groups have called on the new federal financial watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), to …
ProPublica This story was co-published with Slate. A few months ago, Bank of America offered Sergio Cortez of Staten Island, N.Y., the help he desperately needed to stay in his home: a break on his mortgage. Like millions of others, he was facing foreclosure. But there was a catch buried in the fine print. Cortez …
Recently Christoper Viale, the president and CEO of Cambridge Credit Counseling, and I had a chance to talk about a number of issues that are important in the debt relief world today. You can read the full transcript of our conversation below. Some of the highlights are: Coming forward with actual credit counseling performance data …
by Marian Wang,ProPublica The scandal over flawed paperwork and sloppy practices by mortgage servicers continues to broaden. The issue is complicated, and “robo-signers” — individuals working for servicers and signing off on thousands of foreclosure documents without much verification — are only part of the picture. So we brought some of our questions about the …
This letter was sent in by a loyal tipster (send in your tips here), thank you. Oppose the House Offer on H.R. 4173 to Exempt Attorneys Engaged in Unfair, Deceptive or Abusive Consumer Financial Practices June 22, 2010 House-Senate Conferees, H.R. 4173 Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator or Representative: Americans for Financial Reform and the …
There were some recent interesting meetings over at the Federal Trade Commission. These involved the proposed telemarketing sales rules the Federal Trade Commission is going to put forward. The first meeting was with representatives of The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC) and the United States Bankruptcy Alternatives (USOBA) in attendance. At the June 3, 2010 …
For decades, credit-card companies and other firms would eventually give up after attempting to collect from deadbeat customers. Now, companies are packaging and selling many of those overdue accounts for pennies on the dollar to debt collectors. The collectors then aggressively pursue the debtors to repay, or they turn around and resell those same debts …