If you are behind in your mortgage payments and worried about your house going into foreclosure when the present restrictions come to an end soon, help is on the way! A new rule has just been announced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that will go into effect on August 31, 2021, to provide additional assistance to mortgage borrowers still experiencing a COVID-19 related hardship. This new rule applies only to the borrower’s principal residence, and not to investment properties or second homes.
The Government’s New Rule Offering Mortgage Assistance to Borrowers Experiencing Covid-19 Hardships
June 30, 2021 By Leave a Comment
What Can You Do About Debt Collectors?
November 17, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Despite the unrelenting COVID-19 pandemic and the protections put in place to protect borrowers from debt collection right now, the business of trying to collect on old debt goes on. Debt collectors are continuing to contact borrowers/debtors by phone at home and at work, by email, and “snail mail”. Debt collection is a big business, with an estimated one in four Americans having at least one unpaid debt currently in collection.
If you are being contacted by a debt collector, you need to know what they are legally allowed to do and what rights you have.
Before going into a detailed explanation of what debt collectors are and what they’re allowed to do, I want to emphasize that in Ohio and most other states, they are definitely not allowed to threaten you by saying or suggesting that a warrant has been issued for you through your local court, and that unless you make arrangements with them immediately to make payments, a sheriff will soon arrive at your door to arrest you. [Read more…]
Important Information for Your Payments During the Covid-19 Financial Crisis
April 10, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Our lives were upturned in a couple of days last month with the COVID-19 pandemic. Now we’re looking in the next few weeks (hopefully!) to come out of the “stay-at-home phase” of our current lives and pick up the pieces of our personal finances. In any case, it’s going to take a long while before our economy recovers from this devastation. We are all sharing in a world of hurt. We are all scared.
Many of you may have what is classified as a “non-essential” job, where you are not working and not getting paid. Others of you may have had to leave your employment because you have had to stay home with your school-age children. Or you may be “lucky” enough to still be employed, but are earning less because you are on commission and aren’t making as many sales.
The offices of Horwitz & Horwitz are open during this time, although we are basically working by telephone and email rather than meeting with clients directly. [Read more…]
A Word to Small Business Owners
April 7, 2020 By Leave a Comment
We are all watching our financial world crumble before us. Even as we thank our lucky stars that we and our families have yet been spared being “infected” with COVID-19, we are all to a great extent “affected”. Especially those of us who have small businesses, either LLCs, partnerships or sole proprietorships. We don’t qualify for unemployment compensation. The value to us of the Cares Act is yet to be seen.
How might the Cares Act help small business owners?
Recovery Rebates
- It is planned to provide all U.S. residents with incomes of less than $75,000 with $1200 for singles and $2400 for married couples;
- Those residents with dependent children are eligible to receive an additional $500 per child, so long as the child would qualify for the Child Tax Credit (basically, under 17 years of age).
- Checks will be sent to the address or bank account used on your 2018 or 2019 tax returns, with no action required for most eligible recipients.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) and its Impact on Criminal Cases
April 1, 2020 By Leave a Comment
In light of COVID-19 and its unprecedented impact on our entire way of living, I will briefly discuss several temporary changes pertaining to Criminal Cases in Southwest Ohio, with special emphasis on Montgomery and Warren Counties.
- JAILS ARE LESS LIKELY TO ACCEPT NEW INMATES INTO THEIR FACILITIES. To slow down the spread of this pandemic, jail populations have been reduced to minimize the risk to staff and inmates. It appears that only the highest risk offenders (violent offenders, history of fleeing) are being booked into the jails.
- COURTS AND JAILS ARE WORKING TOGETHER TO RELEASE OR SHORTEN THE SENTENCES OF INMATES CURRENTLY IN JAIL.
Horwitz & Horwitz, LLC’s Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)
April 1, 2020 By Leave a Comment
We at Horwitz & Horwitz, LLC sincerely hope that everyone reading this message is taking whatever measures are necessary to keep themselves and their families safe and healthy during this uncertain time.
As a provider of legal services, HORWITZ & HORWITZ, LLC is deemed an “Essential Business and Operation” and exempt from the Ohio Director of Health’s Stay at Home Order requiring all non-essential businesses to cease all non-basic operations. In essence, this Order recognizes that there are certain legal matters impacting the public that cannot be ignored until a date uncertain. As a law firm that focuses on Bankruptcy and Criminal/Juvenile Law, we understand that the financial stress people are dealing with as a result of job loss or reduction in income or the stress of facing a criminal charge may be just as difficult as dealing with the health crises caused by COVID-19.
The Reagan Tokes Act: Does GPS Electronic Monitoring of Parolees Give the Public a False Sense of Security?
January 23, 2020 By Leave a Comment
It’s the kind of crime that stabs you right in your gut and stays there. A beautiful, vivacious OSU student is attacked, raped and murdered as she leaves her part-time job in Columbus, near campus. Her attacker is subsequently caught and tried for murder, requiring her devastated parents and sister to sit through and even testify at a heart-rending trial. Yes, he’s convicted and sentenced to life in prison. But sadly, that’s not the end to this story, as the family of Reagan Tokes sadly discovered.
The worst part of this story is that this monster was actually wearing an “ankle bracelet” GPS tracking monitor during the time of the offense – on early release from a past rape conviction of a young, pregnant woman. Despite being housed in a “re-entry” program for ex-offenders, his whereabouts were not being monitored by either the GPS provider or the housing center in real-time. Most of us naively believe that if someone on home incarceration wanders outside of designated areas, an alarm must alert authorities to the fact that the wearer is not where they are supposed to be. The Tokes family found out that’s a myth, something the perpetrator surely already knew. [Read more…]
Bankruptcy Help on the Way for Student Loan Borrowers
June 18, 2019 By Leave a Comment
At long last, it appears that Congress is looking to help the millions of people saddled with student loan debt that they have no hope of ever totally repaying. That help is coming through the bankruptcy laws being changed to make it possible to discharge (wipe out) those loans through bankruptcy proceedings.
Student loan debt has been a tremendous problem nationwide. It is estimated that as many as forty-four million Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding student loans. That makes student loan debt second only to credit card debt as the highest category of debts owed by Americans. The sponsor of the proposed legislation, Sen. Dick Durbin, hopes that it can be an escape clause for student loan borrowers who, he says, carry their student loan debts to their graves. [Read more…]
Ohio Legislature Amends Intervention in Lieu of Conviction (ILC) Statute, Broadening Eligibility
October 12, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Intervention in Lieu of Conviction or ILC is a program in which an eligible offender charged with a low-level non-violent felony offense, who committed the offense due to drug or alcohol usage or mental illness or intellectual disability, has the opportunity to obtain a dismissal of the charge(s) after completing court-ordered treatment. This is a huge opportunity for a person be rehabilitated, without having the stigma and complications resulting from a felony conviction.
Originally, ILC was limited to first-time offenders. Through a series of amendments to the statute, ILC was made available to offenders with a prior non-violent felony conviction, but only if participation was recommended by the prosecuting attorney. As you would expect, recommendations from the prosecuting attorney were often few and far between. Furthermore, offenders who have already “been through” ILC in the past were ineligible to participate in ILC again in a subsequent case.
What Is The Importance Of My Credit Rating?
October 4, 2018 By Leave a Comment
You are surely aware that the three major credit reporting agencies (CRAs), also known as the credit bureaus, have a lot of power over whether you can get financing for vehicles, homes, and other credit transactions. But you may not know how the CRAs get the information for your credit report, or what your credit score really means. Since consumer credit history, scores, and reports are extremely important in your life, you need to make sure that you understand them and what you can do about them if they are not reporting accurately.
When you apply for credit, the potential lender goes to the three main credit bureaus, (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion), to review your credit report. There are many other CRAs as well, but these three have emerged as the primary sources of credit reports. Your credit report contains information about your bill payment history, current loans and debts, and other financial information. It usually also states your current address and the name of your employer, as well as past addresses and employers. Finally, a credit report may include whether you’ve been sued in the past or filed for bankruptcy. Negative information about you can stay on your credit report for seven to ten years.