How Do You Know If Youre Eligible For A Mortgage Relief Program
There are a few different ways to find out if youre eligible for a relief program. The first step is to contact your lender or servicer and inquire about any programs that they may offer.
You can also check with state and local government agencies and private organizations to see if you qualify for assistance. Each program has varying eligibility requirements, so it is essential to do your research to see if you are eligible.
Initial Criticism And Negotiations
The House initially passed a tax cut bill in mid-2019 and sent it to the Senate, which then used it as a shell bill and added an amendment in the nature of a substitute, fulfilling the constitutional requirement that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. After the new bill was released by the Senate, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that read in part: “We are beginning to review Senator McConnell’s proposal and on first reading, it is not at all pro-worker and instead puts corporations way ahead of workers.”Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ” rel=”nofollow”> NY) criticized the fact that Democrats were not involved by Republicans in drafting the bill.
Among Senate Republicans there was “significant debate and disagreement” regarding “Donald Trump‘s proposal to provide most Americans with $1,000-plus checks to boost spending and stimulate the economy”. Senator Richard Shelby , the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, stated “I personally think that if we’re going to help people we should direct the cash payments maybe as a supplement to unemployment, not to the people who are working every day, just a blank check to everybody in America making up to $75,000.”
Trump Refinances Mortgage On Trump Tower With $100 Million Loan
Former President Donald Trump refinanced the mortgage on Trump Tower with a $100 million loan from California-based Axos Bank, according to a new filing with the city.
The loan document was signed on February 15 by Eric Trump, who along with his brother, Donald Trump Jr., has been running the Trump Organization on a day-to-day basis since their father became president in 2017.
Financial terms of the loan were not disclosed.
Eric Trump told CNN in a statement that Trump Tower is one of the most iconic properties in the world and sits on arguably the most prestigious corner in all of New York. We have incredibly low debt, have a tremendous amount of cash and have an extremely profitable company. We had no problem refinancing.
A spokesman for Axos Bank declined to comment.
The refinancing by Axos Bank, whose president has donated to Trumps political campaigns, comes as the Trump Organization is under a cloud of scrutiny and questions have swirled about the state of the business.
The Manhattan District Attorneys Office says its criminal investigation into the former Presidents company is continuing even after two top prosecutors leading the investigation stepped down last month.
The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, were indicted last summer for allegedly running a 15-year tax fraud scheme. The Trump Organization and Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to the charges. Last month they asked a judge to dismiss the indictment.
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Other Options To Mortgage Forgiveness
If this date with the IRS sounds ominous, it should. If it has you thinking about other options to your underwater mortgage conundrum, all the better.
If youre certain you cant achieve a livable refinancing arrangement and losing your home is certain, consider these options.
Short sale: In a short sale, a lender agrees to accept the sale price of your home as payment in full on your mortgage. Yes, even if the house sells for less than you owe. Again, however, theres that cancelation of debt problem, triggering a tax bill. The house goes on the market just as any other house, and knock on wood you receive offers as you normally would. You forward them to the lender, who decides which one to accept. When an offer is approved, your house sells, and you move out. If theres a deficit, youre not on the hook except to the IRS.
Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure: This is the old hand-over-your-keys-and-walk-away gambit. Rather than force your lender to go through the expensive, time-consuming process of a foreclosure, you leave your home voluntarily and sign it over to your lender. In exchange for not having to fight, the lender accepts your home and cleans your slate. If theres a deficit when the house sells, the lender eats it but also reports it to the feds, meaning, again, taxes will be due.
The Subsidized And Unsubsidized Loan Distinction
Congress created the federal student loan program in 1965 originally to ensure undergraduate students from low-income families had access to subsidized loans. These loans were interest-free while students were enrolled. Congress expanded the program in 1992 by providing access to loans for all students regardless of financial need.6 However, because these newly-eligible students were not in need, they would not qualify for the interest-free benefit, which was costly for the government. Accrued interest would be added to their loan balances upon leaving school. Low-income students and those attending expensive colleges would, however, maintain eligibility for the interest-free benefit. To differentiate the loan types, lawmakers called the new loans Unsubsidized Stafford and the original loans with the interest-free benefit, Subsidized Stafford.
Dependent and independent undergraduates are also subject to lifetime borrowing limits for both loan types. The lifetime limit for Subsidized Stafford loans is $23,000. For dependent undergraduates the lifetime limit for both loan types combined is $31,000. The limit is $57,500 for independent undergraduates.
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How To Get Mortgage Forgiveness In 4 Steps
Getting mortgage forgiveness again, a reduction in your home loan principal balance will involve some negotiation. After all, it involves rewriting your original contract.
Typically, lenders consider two types or mortgage forgiveness plans. In one, you stay in your home under rewritten terms. In the other, you move out, but avoid foreclosure.
Whichever mortgage debt forgiveness option better suits you, understand there might be tax implications, meaning you might have to add whatever amount was forgiven to your gross income.
You also might be subject to a deficiency judgment, which happens when the sale of your property doesnt cover what you owe. If that happens, the lender can take you to court and get a deficiency judgment, which essentially is a lien against you saying you still owe lender money.
There are steps you can take to get debt relief for your mortgage.
Trumps New Student Loan Relief Option
According to a recent article written by Zack Friedman on Forbes.com, President Trump released a 10-point plan to reform the Higher Education Act, which is the primary legislation that governs higher education.
Are you familiar with how the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program works? You must understand how PSLF works before you can understand the details of Trumps new legislation. The following image makes it easy to understand the PSLF.
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An Analogy Of How Debt Validation Works:
Just like when you get a speeding ticket, theres a process you can use to challenge the ticket and get it dismissed. That same theory is used in a debt validation program. Yes, you were speeding, but that ticket gets easily dismissed when properly challenged. Debt can be invalidated and proven to be legally uncollectible if your creditors cant prove that they have the legal authority to collect on a debt. In either case, once an account is determined to be legally uncollectible, it can no longer legally stay on your credit report.
This is why debt validation can be a better choice than debt consolidation or settlement services when dealing with debt collection accounts. Getting the debt collection account removed entirely, from your credit reports, will help your credit score. Here is another blog post that explains in detail how debt consolidation affects your credit score.
Congress Mortgage Relief Programs
Homeowners who have experienced financial hardship during the pandemic have a few options for mortgage relief.
To help borrowers struggling with mortgage payments due to unemployment or illness, Congress enacted mortgage stimulus programs under the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan.
Many of these mortgage relief programs have been extended into 2022 to help those who are still struggling financially. If you find yourself in need of financial assistance, current options include:
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Student Grants Student Loans And Work
- Creates a 14-billion-dollar higher education emergency relief fund to provide cash grants to college students for costs such as course materials, technology, food, housing, and child care. Each college will determine which of its students receive cash grants. This was divided into three pieces: $12.5 billion in formula funds, at least half of which must be given directly to students, $1 billion for institutions serving minorities, and $350 million in supplemental funds for small institutions with unmet needs. Though the Department of Education issued guidance that international and undocumented students are ineligible for these funds, this was challenged in a lawsuit.
- Payments of student loan principal and interest of by an employer to either an employee or a lender is not taxable to the employee if paid between March 27, 2020, and December 31, 2020. The maximum amount that is tax-free is $5,250 per employee.
- For college students in a Federal Work-Study Program, allows a school to continue to pay a student if the student is unable to fulfill their work-study obligation due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
- Gives students and colleges flexibility regarding the requirements for federal student financial aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Suspends payments and accrual of interest on federal student loans through September 30, 2020. Suspends garnishments and tax refund interception related to federal student loans through September 30, 2020.
Select Subcommittee Staff Report Shows Trump Political Appointees Overruled Career Dod Officials To Approve $700 Million National Security Loan That Violated Cares Act Terms
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Documents newly uncovered by the Select Subcommittee show that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows planned to call Treasury Secretary Mnuchin regarding Yellows application in late May 2020, and that other White House officials regularly communicated with Yellow and its representatives concerning Yellows loan application and sought to reach out to Treasury on Yellows behalf.
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Briefing materials provided to Secretary Esper shortly before he certified Yellow as critical to national security noted that President Trump had received a call lobbying for a loan on Yellows behalf. An earlier report from Yellows lobbyists noted that the White House political director was almost giddy to work on Yellows application.
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Secretary Mnuchins communications confirm President Trumps interest in the loan approval. The morning that Treasury announced the loan to Yellow, Secretary Mnuchin sent Chief of Staff Meadows and the presidents executive assistant a CNN article reporting on the loan and highlighted that a union leader thanked President Trump for the loanjust months before the 2020 presidential election.
Trump Administration Political Appointees Overrode the Recommendation of DOD Career Officials to Certify That Yellow Was Critical to National Security and Thus Eligible for the Loan.
The Trump Administration Approved the Loan to Yellow on Terms That Violated CARES Act Risk and Use of Funds Requirements.
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The Homeowner Assistance Fund
The Homeowner Assistance Fund was established under President Bidens American Rescue Plan to assist homeowners struggling with their housing payments due to Covid.
HAF was funded with close to $10 billion in financial support to help families weather these challenges and remain in their homes. According to the Treasury press release, aid money will be prioritized for homeowners with pending foreclosures and those with immediate threats to housing stability.
Those who receive assistance through the Homeowner Assistance Fund can use the money for mortgage payments as well as other housing-related bills like homeowners insurance and utilities.
HAF funds are allocated state by state, and its up to state administrators to distribute the funds to individual homeowners who qualify for aid. If you think you might benefit from the Homeowner Assistance Fund, reach out to your loan servicer to talk about whether youre eligible.
You can also use this lookup tool from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to find active mortgage relief programs in your area.
How To Refinance Second Mortgages Heres What You Need To Know
Many homeowners refinance their mortgage at least once during the lifespan of their loan. If you already have a second mortgage, you may not have considered the possibility of refinancing your second mortgage. Refinancing second mortgages may prove to be beneficial for homeowners who are looking for lower interest rates and monthly payments.
Refinancing a second mortgage is generally similar to refinancing the first mortgage, but there may be different reasons to refinance again.
If you want to learn about refinancing your second mortgage, then read on. Youll need to take some steps in order to refinance.
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Signed Into Law And Signing Statement
A few hours after the House passed the bill, it was signed into law by President Trump.
In a signing statement, Trump suggested he could gag the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery insofar as his constitutional powers as president enabled him to block the SIGPR’s reports to Congress. According to The New York Times, the statement was consistent with Trump’s “history of trying to keep damaging information acquired by an inspector general from reaching Congress”.
Part of the CARES act set aside $8 billion to federally-recognized “tribal governments”. The Treasury Department earmarked about $500 million of those funds to go towards Alaska Native corporations , which provided similar governance as typical tribal leadership in the lower 48 states. Three native Indian tribes sued on the basis that under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 , ANCs were not federally-recognized tribal governments and should not be eligible for CARES funds. The case was eventually heard by the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in June 2021 that ANCs did qualify as tribal governments under the ISDA, and thus eligible to receive the set-aside funds.
Mortgage Relief Program Released
The Obama administration is kicking off a new program designed to help up to 9 million borrowers stay in their homes through refinanced mortgages or loans that are modified to lower monthly payments.
The Treasury Department on Wednesday released detailed guidelines designed to let the lending industry know how to enroll borrowers in the program announced last month.
To help borrowers determine if they are eligible, the government has put answers to common questions and assessment tools on the Web site www.FinancialStability.gov.
“It is imperative that we continue to move with speed to help make housing more affordable and help arrest the damaging spiral in our housing markets,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement.
“The housing program needs no approval by Congress — it starts now,” CBS News’ White House Correspondent Chip Reid reports. The White House says if you think you qualify, call your mortgage company. They warn callers to be patient because those companies are getting flooded with calls.
On Tuesday, key moderate Democrats in the House wrote a compromise to a housing bill that requires bankruptcy judges to consider whether banks offered homeowners reasonable loan restructuring deals before they weigh in with judicial remedies.
The new language is expected to ease the bill onto the House floor for a vote as early as Thursday.
Still, Miller and some other backers of the idea said they support the new plan.
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Relief To Mail Delivery
- The U.S. Postal Service will receive a $10 billion line of credit. On April 24, Trump attempted to use this loan as leverage for a new demand, as he threatened to block the emergency funding if the post office did not quadruple its prices for online retailers. As of early May, the details of the loan were still being negotiated.
- $400 million will be allocated to help states prepare for an expected increase in mailed ballots in .
Net Effects For Graduate Students
Comparing the change in benefits for graduate students under the Trump proposal is more straightforward than for undergraduates. It is obvious that the plan reduces benefits relative to the current IBR program because it increases monthly payments by the same amount as for undergraduates, but instead of reducing the repayment period before loan forgiveness, it increases it from 20 years to 30 years. Higher monthly payments and longer terms must result in a reduction in benefits by making it far less likely a borrower would receive loan forgiveness.
We have argued that the changes lawmakers made to IBR in 2010 provided outsized benefits to graduate students relative to the original 2007 version of IBR. While it is obvious the Trump proposal rolls back those benefits, we wanted to know if it would result in a less generous program for graduate students than even the original 2007 version of IBR. That plan set payments higher than the Trump proposal but provided loan forgiveness earlier, after 25 years of payments. Therefore, we include the original 2007 version of IBR as an additional point of reference in our analysis.
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Trumps Libertarian Housing Regulator Refuses To Bail Out Mortgage Firms With Public Money
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria has long been on a crusade to shrink the footprint of Fannie and Freddie.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
04/16/2020 06:01 PM EDT
With millions of suddenly unemployed homeowners expected to seek relief on their mortgage payments, a libertarian regulator is standing in the way of the federal government using its most powerful weapon to stave off a housing crisis.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the state-controlled mortgage finance companies with a $200 billion line of credit to the Treasury, were created to ease disruptions in the market. Now, as bankers and affordable housing advocates alike clamor for the administration to tap the giant entities for a mortgage industry bailout, the Trump appointee who oversees them is rebuffing those requests.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria, formerly a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence, has long been on a crusade to shrink the footprint of Fannie and Freddie, which back more than half the countrys $11 trillion mortgage market. A free-market economist, Calabria has even said he would not have rescued the companies in 2008, when the government seized them to stave off catastrophic losses during the nations housing meltdown.
Now critics are accusing him of clinging to a long-held goal that makes little sense in the face of a potentially major housing crisis sparked by the pandemic.
