Student Debt Forgiveness Dropped From Biden’s Annual Budget

Although President Biden initially showed support for $10,000 of undergraduate or graduate student debt relief for every year of national or community service, up to five years and $50,000, student debt forgiveness is expected to be left out of the new budget plan, The Washington Post reported. The budget plan is due to be released by the end of this week.

CFPB and Debt Settlement Company Agree to Stipulated Final Judgment and Order

On May 17, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it has entered​ into a stipulated judgment​ and order​ to resolve a civil action that it previously filed against a debt settlement company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on December 1, 2020, as previously reported he​​re.

Attorney General Bonta Announces Guilty Pleas in $6 Million Southern California Mortgage Relief Scheme

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced that the nine defendants involved in an advance fee mortgage relief scam in Southern California have pleaded guilty to multiple counts including theft from an elder, identity theft, and grand theft. The scheme, which the defendants claimed would prevent the foreclosure of properties, impacted multiple victims, resulted in a loss of approximately $6 million, and affected over 200 properties; including properties with loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, as well as loan servicers Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

FTC to Host Virtual Advertising and Data Security Workshop for Small Businesses

The Federal Trade Commission and its regional partners in Dallas will host a free, virtual workshop on June 24, 2021, to discuss advertising and data security basics for small businesses, advertising professionals, and attorneys who advise them.

American Rescue Plan Debt Payments

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Section 1005 includes provisions for USDA to pay up to 120% of loan balances, as of January 1, 2021, for Farm Service Agency (FSA) Direct and Guaranteed Farm Loans and Farm Storage Facility Loans (FSFL) to any Socially Disadvantaged producer who has a qualifying loan with FSA. This includes producers who are one or more of the following: Black/African American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Hispanic/Latino, Asian American, or Pacific Islander.

Mortgage requirements are loosening for home buyers

There’s good news for home buyers: It’s finally getting easier to get a mortgage loan. After tightening their lending standards during the pandemic, it seems mortgage lenders are starting to loosen the reins a bit. In fact, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgages were about 2.2% easier to come by in April than in March. And on some types of loans? Mortgage availability was up as much as 12.6%. Here’s what the change means for home buyers (and refinancers).

Fixed-rate student loan refinancing rates set the third record low in four weeks

Rates for well-qualified borrowers using the Credible marketplace to refinance student loans into 10-year fixed-rate loans hit another record low during the week of May 17, 2021. This is the third time in four weeks that refinance rates sunk to a new low.

OCC Will Review Its Cryptocurrency-Related Guidance, Says the New Chief

Michael Hsu – the new chief of the OCC – revealed that the US independent bureau plans to put under review its crypto guidelines offered over the past year. He added that all federal banks should provide interpretive letters and guidance, including issues around digital assets alongside pending matters.

5 ways to identify personal loan scams

In 2020, there were 99,667 reports of identity theft for business and personal loans, according to the Federal Trade Commission. This represents a 127% increase from the previous year. If you don’t see the warning sign of a personal loan scam and you fall into a scammer’s trap, your identity can be stolen. In addition, the scammer may take some of your hard-earned money. In addition to taking your money, the scam artist could also hit you with identity theft, potentially leaving you with bad credit

When do student loan payments restart?

Washington (CNN)Federal student loan payments are set to resume on October 1, after an unprecedented 19-month suspension that was put in place to provide financial relief to borrowers during the pandemic. Borrower balances have effectively been frozen for more than a year, with no payments required on federal loans since March 2020, when Congress first authorized the pause as part of one of its first major Covid relief packages.

Consumers Set to Spend Big (and Take On Debt) As Pandemic Restrictions Ease

With more than 100 million Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19, pandemic restrictions are starting to loosen up around the country. And as activities make a comeback, such as traveling and in-person dining, many consumers are ready to splash out with big spending, even if it means going into debt.

Here’s the average student debt balance of borrowers 25 to 34 years old

Twenty-five to 34-year-olds make up the biggest cohort of student loan borrowers, adding up to 14.8 million borrowers in total. The average individual in this age bracket has a student loan balance of $33,817.56, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Education’s Q4 2020 data. While this number is just shy of how much the average student loan borrower of all ages carries ($39,351), it’s more than double what the 24-and-younger cohort is dealing with (their average balance is $14,807.69).

Biden downplays student loan forgiveness in new report — what to do with your college debt now

Student loan debt was a prominent topic during the 2020 presidential election, and many borrowers looked to then-candidate Joe Biden in hopes of forgiveness measures. While President Biden campaigned on solving the college debt crisis, in a Thursday interview with The New York Times, Biden suggested that he doesn't wholly agree with the idea of federal student loan forgiveness.

CFPB Takes Action Against Auto Lender for Unfair Loss Damage Waiver Practices

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a consent order today against 3rd Generation, Inc., doing business as California Auto Finance (California Auto) for illegally charging interest for late payment on its Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) product without its customers’ knowledge. The CFPB’s order requires California Auto to refund or credit customers harmed by the conduct, furnish corrected information to credit reporting agencies, and pay a civil penalty and also prohibits the company from charging interest on late payments without disclosing costs.

A Look at the California DFPI’s Debt Collection Oversight Measures Thus Far

Since the California Department of Protection and Financial Innovation's (DFPI) formal establishment at the beginning of this year, a number of issues have come into focus as key agency priorities. Among these, debt collection is one of the highest priority issues for the new department—which has been busy to that end. Here, we highlight the DFPI's recent debt collection-focused public statements and materials related to legislation and rulemakings, COVID-19 protections, and enforcement actions.

What Bank of America’s new $25 minimum wage means for everyone else

From McDonald’s to Chipotle, numerous companies in the US have been raising wages for workers at the bottom of the pay scale amid a labor squeeze facing the US services industry.

TCPA TALE: 16 Years After Call is Made Appellate Court Finally Sinks TCPA Suit for Lack of Standing

Real quick, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held today that a violation of the TCPA does not automatically confer standing. This is the first time the Court has reached the issue directly–although it did so in the context of an unpublished decision. Decision here: Lesye

Credit Scores ‘May Lose Some Power’ After Covid, Fed Warns

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York warned that credit scores -- the all-powerful number that can determine if a consumer is able to qualify for a loan, rent a home or even buy car insurance -- might have gotten less reliable during the coronavirus pandemic. Scores for homeowners who took advantage of payment relief on their mortgages actually rose an average of 14 points over the course of the pandemic, according to a new analysis by the New York Fed. That was a bigger jump than the seven-point increase seen among borrowers that didn’t take forbearance on their loans.

FCC Creates Public Database to Track Compliance with New Robocall-Killing Program

The Federal Communications Commission is moving ahead with a program requiring telephone service providers to verify the origins of phone calls—potentially eliminating spoof and robocalls—and is creating a new public database to track compliance among carriers. This summer, telephone service providers in the U.S. will be required to comply with the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited, or STIR, and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs, or SHAKEN, which requires tracking and accurately displaying the true caller ID of incoming calls. Compliance with these standards will be tracked in a new Robocall Mitigation Database and posted publicly for all to see, according to a notice posted in the Federal Register.

Health care in America ‘is completely out of whack’ as millions face medical debt collections

Health care costs in the U.S. continue to grow year after year, leaving Americans with more and more debt.

Biden’s stimulus bill’s affect on student loans: What to know

According to a recent Pew Research study, 49% of workers who lost income after the pandemic hit are still earning less money than they were before. To provide some relief, the federal government paused student loan repayment and set the interest rate to 0% for some federal student loans. However, the loss of income has made it more difficult for borrowers who are still responsible for repaying their loans to afford their monthly payments.

As home prices rise, so does mortgage debt

Mortgages got a little bit more expensive this week — with the emphasis on “little.” Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average interest on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is back up to 3%, with fees of 0.6%. That is still incredibly low by historical standards. Those low rates are in turn tempting homebuyers to borrow more money to pay those rising home prices.

Banks to offer credit cards to people without credit scores

It will soon be possible to get a credit card even if you don’t have a credit score. As early as this fall, banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp will launch a collective pilot program that factors in data from applicants’ savings and checking accounts to boost their chances of getting a credit card, the Wall Street Journal reported.

IRS can seize unemployment tax refunds for unpaid debts

The IRS began issuing refunds this week to Americans who overpaid taxes on unemployment benefits collected last year – but some individuals could have their checks seized to offset unpaid debts. The money is "subject to normal offset rules," the IRS said, meaning that it can be used to cover "past-due federal tax, state income tax, state unemployment compensation debts, child support, spousal support or certain federal nontax debts (i.e., student loans)."

FTC Sues Frontier Communications for Misrepresenting Internet Speeds

The Federal Trade Commission, along with law enforcement agencies from six states, sued Internet service provider Frontier Communications, alleging that the company did not provide many consumers with Internet service at the speeds it promised them, and charged many of them for more expensive and higher-speed service than Frontier actually provided. 

Judge rules DeVos must testify in lawsuit over student loan forgiveness

A federal judge on Wednesday said that former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos must testify in a class-action lawsuit over her handling of student loan forgiveness claims, ruling that “exceptional circumstances” justify the rare deposition of a former Cabinet secretary. Judge William Alsup rejected the joint effort by DeVos and the Biden administration to prevent her from having to testify in the case. The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of roughly 160,000 borrowers who applied to the Education Department for loan forgiveness, on the grounds that they were defrauded by their for-profit colleges.

CFPB Publishes Brief on Characteristics of Mortgage Borrowers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The CFPB Office of Research recently published a special issue brief detailing trends among borrowers in forbearance and delinquent on their mortgages since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The brief covers characteristics for three groups of borrowers with mortgage loans: those with loans in forbearance, those with loans that were 60-plus days delinquent, and those with loans that were current.

FCC to Consider Proposed Rulemaking on Call Authentication

The Federal Communications Commission will consider a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking  (FNPRM) during its Thursday, May 20 meeting“ to fight illegal robocalls by proposing to accelerate the date by which small voice service providers that originate an especially large amount of call traffic must implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework,” according to the meeting notice.

First-time jobless claims fall to new pandemic low of 444K as layoffs ease and 22 states cut off federal bonus

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to 444,000, a new pandemic low and a sign that the job market keeps strengthening as consumers spend freely again, viral infections drop and business restrictions ease.

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