As blogged by the American Bankruptcy Institute and reported by Reuters, art expert Michael Plummer was hired by the Detroit Institute of Arts to evaluate the collection for purposes of selling it to raise money for the City of Detroit Chapter 9 bankruptcy proceeding. Mr. Plummer reported that the Detroit Institute of Arts collection may be worth as much as $4.6 billion. However, he cautioned that a sale of the art works would raise less than $2 billion to pay the bankrupt city’s creditors. The renowned expert concluded that litigation and market conditions would depress prices. Moreover, Plummer commented that liquidating the most valuable works would eventually force the museum to close. “Rather than being a source of cash to creditors or a burden on…

The new rehabilitation rules affect both FFEL and Direct Loans, including: 1. Direct Loan rehabilitation now requires a written agreement (this was true of FFEL before, but not Direct Loans); and, 2. There is a specified method for calculating reasonable and affordable payments using the 15% income based repayment (IBR) formula. Once you request rehabilitation, your loan servicer will ask you for your most recent adjusted gross income (AGI) and/or other income (e.g. public assistance) and proof thereof. The loan servicer will use the IBR calculator (based on the 15% IBR formula) to come up with a preliminary rehabilitation payment. If you can’t afford the calculated rehabilitation payment, you must provide documentation of your income and expenses using a new form. Under the new rules,…

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”) is a federal law that give you the right to get information about your mortgage loan through a Qualified Written Request addressed to the servicer. Under new rules effective January 2014, your servicer has to ackowledge your request within 5 days of recieving it and must respond within 30 days. Information regarding the owner of your note has to be provided within 10 days of receiving your request. The New RESPA Rules recognize two different kinds of requests, including: 1. A Request for Information; and, 2. A Notice of Error. To make a request, all you have to provide the following information: 1. The Name of the Borrower; 2. The Account Number of the Loan; and, 3. A…

As reported by the ABI, total bankruptcy filings totaled 479,362 nationwide during the first six months of 2014 (Jan. 1-June 30), a 12 percent decrease from the 544,561 total filings during the same period a year ago, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. The 460,870 total noncommercial filings for the first half of 2014 represented a 12 percent drop from the noncommercial filing total of 520,992 for the first half of 2013. Total commercial filings during the first six months of the year were 18,492, representing a 22 percent decrease from the 23,569 filings during the same period in 2013. Commercial chapter 11 filings also fell during the first half of 2014 as the 3,009 filings represented a 13 percent decrease from the…

Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a federal program that eliminates or forgives federal student loans for specific borrowers. You must be employed full time in an eligible public service or nonprofit job and must have made 120 eligible on-time payments within a 10 year period. Payments do not have to be consecutive – but only eligible payments made during eligible employment count. An eligible payment is a payment that is made on a loan from the government’s direct loan program. If you have other federal loans, you have to consolidate them into the direct loan program to qualify. To be eligible for loan forgiveness, the key is “who” you are working for. Any employee who works full time at public or nonprofit institutions can be…

July 1, 2014 marks the date for important new changes to the federal student loan program. One of the most important chages relates to  improvements in the  student loan rehabilitation program.  These new rules affect both FFEL and Direct Loans. Here is a summary of the new rules affecting the student loan rehabilitation program: 1. A written agreement is required for both Direct Loan and FFEL rehabilitation. 2. Calculating the “reasonable and affordable payments” is bsed on the the 15% income based repayment (IBR) formula. When you request a  student loan rehabilitation payment, the collection agent will then ask you for your most recent adjusted gross income (AGI) or other income (e.g. public assistance). The collection agency will use the IBR calculator (based on the 15%…

By Philip Tirone of 720creditscore.com. Many so-called experts say that you should adopt a cash-only policy and ignore credit cards. But here’s the truth… They are dead wrong. Avoiding credit won’t make life easier. In fact, it will make life a heck of a lot harder. It also won’t make your credit score improve. In fact, it will make your credit score drop like a lead balloon. If you adopt a cash-only policy, you’ll end up with no credit. And no credit is just as bad as poor credit. You see, the credit-scoring bureaus want to see that you can responsibly handle many different types of credit before they award you a good credit score. If you don’t accumulate a proven track record, you won’t get…