This week, President Obama ordered changes to the federal student loan program that could help millions of borrowers make their payments more affordable starting in December 2015. In a short speech in which he used the word “outrage” twice, he noted that he and his wife, Michelle, paid off their own student loan debt only […]
Young and in Debt in New York City
Student Loans Make it Hard to Rent or Buy a Home Photo Tierney Cooke and Oliver have at last found a place to live in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Both student debt and the dog have hampered her housing searches in New York. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times For young people, moving to New […]
How to Protect Your Credit When You Marry Into Debt
Submitted by New Jersey Bankruptcy Attorney, Lee M. Perlman. Originally published here. So you’ve got your financial act together, but your soon-to-be-spouse doesn’t. You love your partner, but you’ve worked hard to get your finances in order, and you don’t want to be responsible for their past mistakes. Here’s how you can protect yourself from […]
Alternatives to Foreclosure in New Jersey
Given the current climate of the housing market in New Jersey many homeowners are finding themselves with mortgages far greater than the current fair market value of their property. Many of these homeowners are unable to get out from under the water and soon find themselves facing the very real possibility of foreclosure once they […]
Class Field Trip Stops at a Local Pawnshop
Submitted by New Jersey Bankruptcy Attorney, Lee M. Perlman. READING, Ohio — The last time Brian Page had to file the paperwork to evict a tenant from a rental property he and his wife own, he noticed all the check-cashing services and pawn shops on his drive home from the courthouse. A clerk tipped him […]
Is It Better to Buy or Rent?
Submitted by Lee M Perlman, New Jersey Bankruptcy Attorney. Originally published in the New York Times. The choice between buying a home and renting one is among the biggest financial decisions that many adults make. But the costs of buying are more varied and complicated than for renting, making it hard to tell which is […]
Foreclosures May be Driving the Rise in Suicides
Submitted by New Jersey Foreclosure attorney Lee M Perlman. Originally published in the Washington Post by Emily Badger (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) The foreclosure crisis increasingly looks like a public health crisis, too. Researchers have connected foreclosures to depression, stress-related illnesses and spikes in emergency room visits. Last week, The Washington Post’s Dina elBoghdaddy wrote that […]
Fighting Against Predatory Student Loans
Recently a trade college in Indiana found itself the subject of a law suit for their alleged use of predatory student loans and unethical tactics used in order to ensure repayment of the loans. The Indiana based school boast some of the highest tuition rates in the country in the private for profit education industry. […]
Someone Else’s Debt Could Ruin Your Credit Rating
Debt collectors are pursuing one in seven Americans—and often screwing up Last month, Amrit Singh, an adjunct professor at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx, received a letter from the New York City Marshal, advising him that he owed $10,000, due within 20 days. If Singh did not pay, the letter said, money would […]
Pitfalls of Reverse Mortgages May Pass to Borrower’s Heirs
By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG originally posted here Jim Wilson/The New York TimesIsabel Santos says she spends her evenings huddled over stacks of foreclosure notices on her parents’ home. The only solace for Isabel Santos as she spends her evenings huddled over stacks of yellowed foreclosure notices is that her parents are not alive to watch their […]
