DID YOU KNOW ? - CREDIT CARD DEFENSE CENTER

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Under the new credit card law - known as the Credit Card Reform Act of 2009, which became effective February 1, 2010, when you are more than 60 days late in making a payment, you forfeit all the new protection of the law.

There is some very interesting new law coming out in New York City which seeks to stem the rising incidences of "sewer service", whereby unscrupulous process servers intentionally fail to give proper notice of lawsuits to defendants being sued for credit card debt in the Courts of New York State. And this new legislation may contain a provision which allows you, the debtor, the right to sue process servers who submit false affidavits of service to the Court to recover such things as bank fees and overdraft fees cause when your bank account is suddenly seized without notice. See the proposed bill here. Here's a report on the new legislation from local NYC ABC News:
According to Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard professor who heads up the Congressional Oversight Panel examining the banking bailout, American middle class families spent more than $100 billion on credit card penalties, fees and interest in 2009 alone. "The large Wall Street banks that really run these credit cards have been able to borrow from the American taxpayer through the Fed, which is effectively zero percent interest," Warren said. "So what are they doing with credit cards? The answer is, they've often tripled interest rates." Some raise the rates in deceptive ways, offering low interest rates up front on credit cards, only to boost the rates a year later with details buried in the fine print.
The Obama administration recently introduced a brand new program to encourage lenders to forgive some of the mortgage debt owed by homeowners. It’s aimed at homeowners who cannot qualify for a loan modification under the administration’s on-going Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) and instead targets home owners who must inevitably lose their home to a sheriff’s foreclosure sale because of inability to maintain the present mortgage terms or obtain a modification under HAMP.

Starting April 5, homeowners who qualify will be able to participate in the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, or HAFA which is the Obama administration's newest initiative to improve the severely depressed housing market. HAFA will make it easier for financially struggling borrowers to sell their homes through a "short sale" process rather than foreclosure.

To qualify for HAFA, these conditions must be met:

    * The borrower must use the house as a principal residence.
    * The mortgage had to originate before 2009.
    * Mortgage delinquency or default is reasonably foreseeable.
    * The unpaid principal balance on the mortgage can't exceed $729,750.
    * The borrower's total monthly payment must exceed 31 percent of gross income.

It is designed for the owner who can no longer afford his or her mortgage because of factors out of their control including job loss, pay cuts or exponentially increasing interest costs under terms of a sub-prime mortgage which consequently forces such owners to sell because they simply can no longer the expense of their home.

The problem of course has been that with prices still so depressed, these owners may not be able to sell their houses for enough money to pay off existing loans, which then usually leads to a foreclosure, with the lender ending up in possession of the house and the former owner getting evicted with nothing to show for his or her investment into the home..

HAFA recognizes and accounts for the fact that foreclosures under these circumstances benefits neither the soon to be house-less owner nor the lender. Typically, for example, the owner’s credit record gets ruined while the lender gets stuck with yet another house to sell in a continuing depressed market, not to mention the legal fees and costs associated with maintaining a vacant house.

A better option is a short sale wherein neither party loses everything. In this type of transaction, the lender agrees to accept less than what the current homeowner owes on the mortgage, which. For example, a homeowner may be struggling with have a $400,000 mortgage, which was obtained when the house was appraised at $440,000. But in today's market, the seller may be able to get only $360,000 for the house.

In a short sale, the lender agrees to accept the $360,000 and forgive the rest of the debt. All parties avoid the trouble and expense of foreclosure.

The goal of HAFA is to streamline the short-sale procedure, clarify guidelines and set deadlines for completing deals. It also creates a process for the homeowner to get pre-approved short-sale terms even before listing the property. Knowing what terms would be acceptable to the lender would speed up the entire sales process.

Also, the government will provide cash incentives for completing short sales. Taxpayers will provide up to $3,000 per sale to help pay the homeowners' relocation expenses. They also will give lenders up to $1,000 to cover administrative fees for each transaction.

LOOK FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PRGRAM IN THE NEAR FUTURE ….
New York's State's Exempt Income Protection Act (EIPA)5 eliminates the conflict between New York's debt-collection procedures and federal and state exemption laws. The EIPA, effective Jan. 1, 2009, automatically exempts the first $1,716 of any bank account from debt collection. And if the account receives any statutorily exempt, electronic payment, such as Social Security, the exemption floor is set higher at $2,500. 2008 Sess. Law News of N.Y. Ch. 575 (A. 8527-A) (effective Jan. 1, 2009).
Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), upon request, you have the right to obtain a copy of your credit report, free, from the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union, once every 12 months.