http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress Mortgage, debt management and personal finance in the news. Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:40:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In many states, if your house is foreclosed or if you turn it into the lender and it is sold for less than the mortgage, you are still obligated to pay the balance of the debt. To cope with this, you can do a "short sale" in which you find ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/31/debt-elimination-walk-aways-leave-debt-behind/ The truth is that, in most cases, foreclosure prevention activity fails. The loan servicing company doing the foreclosure has no skin in the game. They do not care how much of the debt is recovered. Someone else owns the debt. They get paid only ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/28/foreclosure-prevention-judges-getting-involved/ It looks like Bush will cave in and sign the compromise foreclosure prevention bill passed by the House and sent to the Senate. For those who are in foreclosure -- or who may be -- the main advantage of the bill is that it gives a big incentive ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/27/foreclosure-prevention-new-law-will-help/ We've all seen the ads on TV. "Got trouble with the IRS? Our professional counselors -- many of them former IRS agents -- can fix it for you. Call now." Turns out that it's not so easy. According to the Wall Street Journal, the largest IRS "fix-it" company (JK Harris, ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/25/tax-debt-relief-avoiding-scams-like-those-firms-you-see-on-tv/ One of the most important payment terms on your credit card is the deadline for payment. Even if you are a person who pays the whole balance every month - depending on your balance - missing the deadline for your credit card payment could cost you well over $100. ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/23/credit-card-payment-terms-are-getting-worse/ The New York Times has started a series on debt, and the first issue contains some discouraging stats. The liberalization of lending rules has, over the years, created a nation of serious debtors. Today, the average household has $8,565 in credit card debt, $14,414 in vehicle and tuition ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/21/credit-card-debt-college-debts-sinking-average-families/ The Wall Street Journal reports that private mortgage insurers are adding more and more areas to their list of "declining markets." If you live in one of these markets (like Chicago) you will have to put much more down (10% is common) and pay more for the insurance ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/18/mortgage-insurance-harder-and-harder-to-get-except-from-fha/ If the amount you owe a creditor is low (certainly if it is under $1,000), and it is way past due, the best thing for you to do could be to send a "cease and desist" letter to the collection agency, and forget about it. Under federal ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/17/when-you-should-just-tell-your-creditors-to-get-lost/ The subprime market has disappeared, but just in case banks ever get the idea that they will like to return to making high rate mortgage loans, the Federal Reserve has some new rules they will have to follow. Some say these rules will eliminate the subprime market. I ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/15/fed-sets-new-rules-for-mortgages-will-subprime-market-come-back/ If your mortgage is in trouble, there are many different things you can do. Bankruptcy and Cram-downs are the two most likely to help. Bankruptcy is one of the best options out there for this situation, and very underused. Cram-downs change the terms of the mortgage to help the homeowner ... http://www.askjackaboutdebt.com/wordpress/2008/07/02/how-to-get-free-help-to-avoid-foreclosure-and-obtain-mortgage-modifications/