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.

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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…]

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

1. 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;
2. 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).
3. 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.

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