Archive for January, 2007

The findings come from a panel convened by Attorney General Lori Swanson and chaired by Prentiss Cox, professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. The suggestions to add criminal penalties on top of already-available civil ones is a result of the startling rise in foreclosures we have been reporting on at length.
The possible problem [...]

In a sensationally-titled report, “Debt Collectors Gone Wild,” ABC News reports on the results of a three-month investigation into debt collector practices. Unsurprisingly, ABC found that “many unscrupulous collectors routinely ignore the law.”
Rozanne Andersen of ACA International, however, would like you to know that “the vast majority of debt collectors follow the law and that [...]

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, the New York Federal Reserve Bank staff has concluded that payday loans are not predatory (”welfare reducing” in the parlance of the Fed). The “staff” in question are is Donald P. Morgan, a research officer at the Fed, and Samuel G. Hanson, graduate student at Harvard Business School, whose [...]

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver is a “sad, angry woman” according to Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor. She, in turn, has little flattering to say about her Democrat Republican colleagues on the bench. Anyone who thought judges are above such petty–and apparently partisan–bickering, take note: judges can be just as petulant and [...]

Nope, not at all. With the growth of foreclosures, due in part to the rise in nontraditional mortgages, equity stripping, and predatory lending generally, the foreclosure purchaser market is booming!

Over the weekend, The Washington Post added to the multiplying reports on nontraditional (or “exotic”) mortgage lending. The article elaborate on many of the reasons supporting the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s new guidelines on nontraditional mortgages.

The Minnesota Association of Realtors spent $435,640 on its lobbying efforts, according to a recent Business Journal article (PDF link), making it the fourth biggest spender in Minnesota. That’s a pretty powerful lobby.
To put that in perspective, the MAR spends more than the Minnesota Twins (#14) and Philip Morris (#19). The Twins recently completed a [...]

ConsumerAffairs.com recently completed an investigation into BlueHippo, a credit provider that takes advantage of wide-eyed consumers looking to purchase “one of those computer things.” We haven’t seen the commercials ourselves, but a blue hippo romping around with upside-down signage sure does sound appealing. As a credit lender? Maybe not, but we assume we are not [...]

Apparently even “celebrity” can’t save you. Dustin Diamond, a/k/a Screech from Saved by the Bell, is facing foreclosure. He’s selling t-shirts to raise money to redeem his mortgage.
The story is a bit disjointed, but sounds similar–minus the “old friend with lots of connections–to the stories we hear all the time from non-famous consumers facing foreclosure.

Sharon McCann, a guest contributor at Tort Deform, posted about her painful journey through the American Arbitration Association’s (”AAA”) arbitration process as a result of her builder skipping out on building her house in mid-project. After six months or so, McCann says, she finally won, but what?
Essentially, we paid over $2,000.00 more to prove that [...]

Not really, but there has been a lot of news and commentary lately about how many gift cards go unredeemed every year. $8.2 billion, apparently.
Freakonomics blog suggests alternatives:
Next year, if you need a gift for a strict rationalist, consider cash. If you want to appeal to someone’s wild self, you’ll have to use your imagination. [...]

The National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina E. Olson released her 2006 Annual Report to Congress today. One of the “key recommendations” was to end private debt collection provisions.

Okay, January 9th is a bit late to be making resolutions, but we can’t help ourselves. Besides, it’s never to late to make financial resolutions.
The new year (and tax time) is a great time to sit down and look over your budget. It’s easy. Take a piece of paper (or use Excel, if you like [...]

The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions fined Advance Til Payday and Zippy Cash for making more than 400 loans in excess of $700 to consumers. DFI article after the jump.

We see a lot of this. Someone comes in for a consultation who is in trouble financially. They can’t afford mortgage payments, and so they come to see me with a story about how their mortgage broker predatorily convinced them to get the mortgage loan. As evidence, they point to their vastly overstated income on [...]

Mary Pawlenty, wife of Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, has taken a job as general counsel of the National Arbitration Forum. She is presently a Dakota County District Court judge, but will resign effective next month.
Apparently she doesn’t agree with Richard Neely, a retired West Virginia judge who described his experience with the National Arbitration Forum [...]

We say this so often, but it bears repeating once again. It may show a somewhat pessimistic world view, but the time were a nod and a handshake were all that was needed to seal the deal are over. Get a written copy of every agreement you make.
This is especially true for agreements you make [...]

A person claiming to be a debt collector for a “legitimate collection agency” calling himself “Doug Danger” recently made a fascinating post on the DCC forums. Mr. Danger says he is “following after my old man who was the chief debt collector for a Jewish Loan Shark in suburban Chicago back in the good ole [...]

Last October an interagency conference of federal and Minnesota banking executives and the Minnesota Department of Commerce arrived at a new set of guidelines for nontraditional mortgages in Minnesota. According to the Department of Commerce, “[t]he guidelines are intended to protect consumers from taking on high-risk mortgage loans without having a full understanding of the [...]

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