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You or one of your closest neighbors have debt in collection
More than One in Four Consumers Have a Debt in Collection with a Debt Collector
7/18/19 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) just released a report that found that more than one in four consumers with a credit report have at least one debt in collection by third-party debt collectors. The report covers 2004 to 2018 from approximately 5 million credit records maintained by one of the three nationwide credit reporting companies.
Close to 900 third-party debt collectors furnished collection information, including account balance, payment history and status of the account.
Almost 60 percent are medical debts
The study also found that more than three out of four third-party collections are for non-financial debt – such as medical debt.
Almost 20 percent are for phone or utility bills
20 percent are for telecommunications or utilities debt. Positive payment information is generally not furnished for medical or telecommunications debt.
Approximately 9,330 debt collectors and debt buyers in the U.S.
Banks and other original creditors may collect their own debts or hire third-party debt collectors. In some instances, the original creditors may sell the debts to debt buyers. The buyers may try to collect on these debts, or hire other third-party debt collectors.
Read the full report.
MUSINGS FROM DIANE:
Are we teaching our children wise financial choices? The answer is ‘no’ if we feel it necessary to buy the latest cell phone or clothing. Or “need” to drive the newest vehicle or live in the fanciest house. No, we don’t “need” any of these items, instead we should strive to live within our means and plan for the future. This may seem to be weird for a bankruptcy attorney to say, because I make my living from people who are in financial distress.
What you may not understand is that most of my clients were making great financial decisions, but life happened. They lost their good paying job, they had disastrous medical expenses or they were faced with a divorce or failing business. Even someone with the best financial plan cannot survive these unexpected expenses.
How Can I Help You?
The post You or a close neighbor has debt in collection appeared first on Diane L. Drain - Phoenix Bankruptcy & Foreclosure Attorney.
When a legal issue arises out of a real estate transaction, it often involves the title. Wynn at Law, LLC won’t let you go to closing without a title in good order or “clean title”, regardless of whether you’re the seller or the buyer about to get the title.
Backtracking a little bit… the title is also called the deed. It’s proof of ownership of and right to sell a piece of property. Just like the title to your car. The bank holds the car title until you pay off your car loan, then transfers the title to you when you pay off the car. In property, however, a title is going to have a much longer history than a car that might be junked in 10 years or less. And that’s how some common title issues arise.
Liens can scuttle a transaction
Liens against the property prevent a property owner from having a ‘clean’ title. A property owner has to ‘cure’ or fix the title before selling rights to the house, building, or land. If there is a first or second mortgage on the property, the bank is a lienholder, but not always the only one. The courts can put a lien on a property as a result of litigation, such as being sued for back taxes or other civil judgments, usually past-due credit or medical bills. Homeowner associations can put a lien on the property if the association dues aren’t paid, too.
Wynn at Law, LLC reivews the title before you get to the closing table to ensure there aren’t liens. We also check to see if the person who owns the house is actually the seller. Common sense says you can’t sell something you don’t own. In some real estate deals, this might not be the case. For example, the owner of a family home might have it held in a trust, or put into a limited liability company, to protect it from creditors (liens). Our title review reveals this as well.
It runs in the family
One thing that can arise with a property that has been in the family for years is that the title could have passed informally – handed down – without a legal recording of the change and chain of custody. We can see that with summer homes that have remained in families for generations, and farms/farmland that also has stayed within the family for years after the original owner passed away.
Additional, and more rare, problems that arise are that a title is not accurately prepared and/or filed following a divorce decree or a bank neglects to satisfy a mortgage once it’s paid off. Nobody needs any of these sorts of headaches during what is, for most, the largest financial transaction of a lifetime. That’s why you really need an experienced real estate attorney.
The post The real estate transaction, Part I: The property title appeared first on Wynn at Law, LLC.
When a legal issue arises out of a real estate transaction, it often involves the title. Wynn at Law, LLC won’t let you go to closing without a title in good order or “clean title”, regardless of whether you’re the seller or the buyer about to get the title.
Backtracking a little bit… the title is also called the deed. It’s proof of ownership of and right to sell a piece of property. Just like the title to your car. The bank holds the car title until you pay off your car loan, then transfers the title to you when you pay off the car. In property, however, a title is going to have a much longer history than a car that might be junked in 10 years or less. And that’s how some common title issues arise.
Liens can scuttle a transaction
Liens against the property prevent a property owner from having a ‘clean’ title. A property owner has to ‘cure’ or fix the title before selling rights to the house, building, or land. If there is a first or second mortgage on the property, the bank is a lienholder, but not always the only one. The courts can put a lien on a property as a result of litigation, such as being sued for back taxes or other civil judgments, usually past-due credit or medical bills. Homeowner associations can put a lien on the property if the association dues aren’t paid, too.
Wynn at Law, LLC reivews the title before you get to the closing table to ensure there aren’t liens. We also check to see if the person who owns the house is actually the seller. Common sense says you can’t sell something you don’t own. In some real estate deals, this might not be the case. For example, the owner of a family home might have it held in a trust, or put into a limited liability company, to protect it from creditors (liens). Our title review reveals this as well.
It runs in the family
One thing that can arise with a property that has been in the family for years is that the title could have passed informally – handed down – without a legal recording of the change and chain of custody. We can see that with summer homes that have remained in families for generations, and farms/farmland that also has stayed within the family for years after the original owner passed away.
Additional, and more rare, problems that arise are that a title is not accurately prepared and/or filed following a divorce decree or a bank neglects to satisfy a mortgage once it’s paid off. Nobody needs any of these sorts of headaches during what is, for most, the largest financial transaction of a lifetime. That’s why you really need an experienced real estate attorney.
The post The real estate transaction, Part I: The property title appeared first on Wynn at Law, LLC.
An auction Thursday of 16 medallions at an East Elmhurst, Queens, hotel came to an early end, with just three sales and a top price of $138,000.
https://www.crainsnewyork.com/transportation/taxi-medallion-auction-price-hits-new-low
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