Companies who offer to provide mortgage relief for homeowners who are having trouble keeping up with their mortgages and who seek loan modifications or other relief are not always the good guys. Some scammers have sprung up during the current mortgage crisis who will offer this kind of assistance, charge fees up front, then string the consumer along ultimately providing no relief, and usually leaving the consumer worse off.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a rule that became effective January 31, 2011 prohibiting companies offering mortgage assistance from charging fees up front. The rule also provides that if a company offers some kind of specific mortgage relief the consumer may reject the offer without obligation. A fee can only become due if the consumer accepts the mortgage relief offer.
Licensed attorneys who provide mortgage assistance relief services as part of the practice of law are exempt from the advance fee ban, but must comply with state laws governing attorney conduct, including rules about placing advance fees in client trust accounts, where required (such as in West Virginia).
Consumers can get more specific information about how to protect themselves from mortgage relief scams from the FTC website and this downloadable publication "Mortgage Assistance Relief Scams: Another potential Stress for Homeowners in Distress."
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Celebrating Black History Month: J. R. Clifford
West Virginia's first African-American attorney, J. R. Clifford, was born in 1848 in Williamsport, Virginia (now Grant County, West Virginia). He was also a newspaper writer, editor, and publisher, civil war veteran, and a grandfather.
Clifford brought the case of Williams v. Board of Education, which established in 1898 that African-American school children had equal rights to public education in West Virginia, over 50 years before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education would establish that principle for the rest of the nation.
When Clifford was nearly 60 years old he and W. E. B. Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement for equal rights and the end of segregation. He helped plan the movement's first meeting in Harper's Ferry at his alma mater Storer College. The Niagara Movement, named for the mighty current of Niagara Falls, was a progressive counter-movement to the non-confrontational approach to civil rights promoted by Booker T. Washington and other black leaders of the time. Niagara's principles extended to equality for all people, including suffrage for women.
Clifford's life and work is celebrated throughout West Virginia in reenactments of the Williams trial, republication of many of his writings, and public and school programs produced through the J. R. Clifford Project.
Clifford brought the case of Williams v. Board of Education, which established in 1898 that African-American school children had equal rights to public education in West Virginia, over 50 years before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education would establish that principle for the rest of the nation.When Clifford was nearly 60 years old he and W. E. B. Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement for equal rights and the end of segregation. He helped plan the movement's first meeting in Harper's Ferry at his alma mater Storer College. The Niagara Movement, named for the mighty current of Niagara Falls, was a progressive counter-movement to the non-confrontational approach to civil rights promoted by Booker T. Washington and other black leaders of the time. Niagara's principles extended to equality for all people, including suffrage for women.
Clifford's life and work is celebrated throughout West Virginia in reenactments of the Williams trial, republication of many of his writings, and public and school programs produced through the J. R. Clifford Project.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2011
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) annually issues the Federal Poverty Guidelines used to determine income eligibility for many means-tested benefits and programs. Here are the figures for 2011:
Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 13, January 20, 2011, pp. 3637-3638
Family Size | Gross Yearly Income | Gross Monthly Income |
1 | $10,890 | $908 |
2 | $14,710 | $1,226 |
3 | $18,530 | $1,544 |
4 | $22,350 | $1,863 |
5 | $26,170 | $2,181 |
6 | $29,990 | $2,499 |
7 | $33,810 | $2,818 |
8 | $37,630 | $3,136 |
add'l | +$3,820 | +$318 |
Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 13, January 20, 2011, pp. 3637-3638
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