Credit Card Debt and Health Expenditures

Credit Card Debt is related to Medical Debt and the need for health related expenditures, according to a new study. The study is entitled "Borrowing to Stay Healthy" and was conducted by an organization called "The Access Project". Click here to view the study.

Check out The Access Project's home page.

Obtaining IRS Transcripts....within minutes, literally

If you need to find what the IRS has on file for you, I have the ability to obtain your file from the IRS literally within minutes (in most cases) using a special hotline and my personal "CAF" number. Please contact me for more information.

I am a victim of predatory mortgage servicing...what do I do now?

If you feel that you are the victim of "predatory" mortgage servicing, you need to do something about it. Do the numbers on your statement just not add up? Are you receiving letters from your mortgage company indicating that you are in default, when you know that you have made every required payment in a timely basis? Have you been served with legal process related to your mortgage, but the numbers just aren't adding up? As you have read on this blog in the past, the industry of securitization which has grown up around the assignment of huge pools of mortgages into trusts for the benefit of powerful investors has in some cases created an incentive for a "servicer" of a mortgage to behave in a predatory fashion toward the borrower.

If you feel that you are the victim of a predatory scheme, you MUST contact a lawyer as soon as possible. If you wait too long, it could be too late.

If it turns out that the servicer has acted improperly, you may have several "causes of action" (legal theories which allow you to sue) against the servicer. These causes of action include your state "Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices" statute, Breach of Contract, Fraud, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the breach of the Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing.

Contact me, or visit:
National Association of Consumer Advocates
National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys
Association of Trial Lawyers of America

Massive credit card bank merger causing problems...

Complications arising from merger between Bank of America, MBNA, etc.
Some of you may not be aware that Bank of America and MBNA merged. In order to fully execute the merger, the two companies have been trying to integrate their very enormous and complex computer systems which track all of their consumer credit card accounts. Unfortunately, there have been serious problems with the new system. One problem is that many of the old "flags" relating to collection activities and status were lost or removed. The end result is that many folks shouldn't be receiving collection letters related to their old MBNA and B of A accounts are, particularly those who filed for bankruptcy, in some cases years ago, and discharged their obligations.

Read about it here:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/11/bofa_glitches.html

Sometimes, Mortgage servicers don't play fair....

Consumers need to recognize that the company which accepts their mortgage payments is emphatically not the same company that owns their mortgage. Typically, as soon as the borrower becomes committed to the mortgage loan , the loan is sold into a "securitized trust". The securitized trust is filled with other similar loans. The trust is held and maintained by a trustee on behalf of far-flung investors who own shares in the trust. One of the primary duties of the trustee is to enter into a "pooling and servicing agreement" with a suitable "servicer". The servicer is a separate company which purports to have sufficient expertise to act as the "front" to the mortgage. The servicing company is the "face" of the mortgage as perceived by the consumer/borrower. The servicer receives and keeps track of payments from the borrowers on behalf of the trustee for the benefit of the investors. The servicer typically has the discretion to add late fees, to declare a default, and to decide whether or not to foreclose. In the case of a loan in default, the servicer is sometimes bound by "servicing guidelines" promulgated by HUD, or in other cases by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Due to the manner in which the servicer is usually related to the trustee pursuant to the "pooling and servicing agreement", the servicer can have little incentive to employ measures to help struggling borrowers. Oftentimes, servicers make more money when borrowers default, due to late fees, property inspection fees, broker price opinion (BPO) fees, and other fees which servicers are authorized to charge to the mortgage account. For this reason, servicers can sometimes become "predatory".

This leads us to the Businessweek article which inspired this post.

Later posts will develop the concepts of securitization and predatory servicing in greater detail.

Introduction....

I intend to dedicate this Web Log to the developments in the law (and in society) which affect us as citizens of the United States and as members of our communities. Abstract theories will be eschewed in favor of plain language explanations and commentary highlighting practical applications.

Special attention will be given to issues related to mortgage accounting, predatory lending, abusive debt collection and credit reporting issues.

For those of you interested in representation in any of the above categories, please schedule an appointment to see me, or email me. You can also visit my main website for more information about me.