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Credit CARD Act of 2009 – what it means to you – Part 4 of 7 – Finally! Some limits on penalty fees.

[Categories: Washington Bankruptcy Attorney]

There are now (finally!) some limits on penalty fees – such as pesky and expensive late payment and over-the-limit fees.

(1) Penalty fees must be "reasonable and proportional" – and the CARD Act requires the Federal Reserve Board to issue rules by August 2010 in order to define and effectuate this mandate.

(2) Over-the-limit opt-in. This is important! Now, no over-the-limit fees may be charged unless the consumer has agreed that the lender may approve transactions that will exceed the credit limit.

(3) Limitations on number of over-the-limit fees. Lenders may charge only one over the limit fee per billing cycle (e.g. usually just one per month). In addition, lenders may only charge the fee in the next two billing cycles unless the consumer uses the card again, or goes below the limit and then exceeds it again. This is a big improvement – you can’t be penalized again and again, billing cycle after billing cycle if your balance stays in excess of the limit.

Special thanks to the National Consumer Law Center’s publication "Guide to Surviving Debt" 2010 edition, page 78, available at www.consumerlaw.org for about a mere $20.00.

Credit CARD Act of 2009 – what it means to you – Part 3 of 7 – Minimum payment protections

[Categories: Washington Bankruptcy Attorney]

When the prohibition against a retroactive rate increase applies (e.g. the payment is late but not more than 60 days late) the CARD Act limits how much the lender can increase your minimum payment. The lender’s options are limited. The lender may either: (1) use the existing minimum payment terms; give you five years to pay off the outstading balance at the old interest rate or (3) increase the minimum payment to no more than twice as much of a contribution to paying down the balance as the old minimum payment.

Special thanks to the National Consumer Law Center www.consumerlaw.org, "Guide to Surviving Debt" chapter 5, page 78. 2010 editions.

Credit CARD Act of 2009 – what it means to you – Part 1 of 7 – Protections re: rate increases

Eight protections (among a number of others) include the following. Here is the first protection:

– Protections against rate increases for future transactions. The Credit CARD Act prohibits credit card lenders from increasing the interest rate that applies to the balance you’ve already incurred on your credit card, a practice known as "retroactive rate increase". There are several exceptions to this rule, which are the following:

(a) Varaible rates – if it is a variable rate card, (e.g. prime plus 7.0%) then the rate can change on all purchases/cash advances when the index changes;

(b) Teaser rates – a lender may raise the rate after the expiration of a teaser rate, but only to the post-teaser rate previously disclosed. Also, teaser rates cannot last fewer than six months.

(c) Sixty-plus days late – a retroactive rate increase on existing balances is permissible as a penalty rate when you are more than sixty days late in making the required minimum payment. NOTE: You can get the old non-penalty rate back and reinstated if you make the next six months worth of minimum payments on time.

Special thanks to the National Consumer Law Center’s "Guide to Surviving Debt", 2010 edition, available at www.consumerlaw.org for a mere $20.00 or so. I highly recommend it.

Fields of Tears: Two of Two: Reflections on unemployment and the Illegal immigration “problem”.

Many economic downturns have been accompanied by a good dose of anti-immigrant sentiment.

I ask that before you say, write, post, preach or ponder things for which you may some day be embarrased, that you take a short moment to pause about the reasons for and origins of immigration. Economics is the key driver of immigration, it seems.

Yes, immigrants do adapt and I do not suggest that immigrants need not adapt a bit and become multi-lingual…but "we" can adapt, too. America his hispanicizing, like it or not. You can’t stop it, I can’t stop it, the government can’t stop it.

With immigration comes a great opportunity. If you offer a good, skill or service, consider learning the immigrant’s language and reach out. You may be enriched both personally and financially. If you speak Spanish and English as an Anglo, I doubt you will ever be unemployed again with such a foreign language skill.

This second of two blog posts focuses on The Economist artice at page 39 of the Decembert 18, 2010 edition covering the time period 12/18/10-12/31/10, entitled "Field of Tears". Economist articles are written and published without author attribution. However, whoever wrote these articles "gets it".

The story focused on the journey and life of Teresa Vega and Marco Lopez, a married couple from Oaxaca, Mexico. They came to the United States illegally in 2005 when their oldest son died after a flood contaminated their town. They wished for a better and more sanitary life with health longevity for their family. I provided a summary of this story in the earlier post.

Now, on to the "meat" of this post.

Many Americans are convinced that undocumented workers take jobs that American nationals would otherwise perform.

To disprove this notion, the United Farmworkers Union ran a promotion called "Take Our Jobs".

In the "Take Our Jobs" promotion this past summer of 2010, Americans were invited to work in the fields harvesting fruit. In the following three months of the promotion, 3,000,000 people visited the website www.takeourjobs.com. But 40% of the visits/postings resulted in hate mail.

Only 8,600 people expressed an interest in working in the fields reports Maria Machuca, the United Farm Workers’ spokesperson.

As of late September 2010, only seven American applicants in the "take our jobs" campaign were actually out picking crops.

Perhaps the failure of the "Take Our Jobs" program may mute some of the complainants who deride hispanic immigrants as "taking" jobs away from Anglos.

I have had the humble and sobering experience of being of assistance to anglo and hispanic families and singles as far north as Snohomish County and Whatcom County, and as far south as Clark County, Washington and Skamania County, Washington. I have with pleasure helped many stressed-out people in Aberdeen, Hoquiam and Gray’s Harbor County, along with the Kitsap County area and the Key Penninsula; Tukwila, Washington; Lakewood, Washington; University Place, Washington; Puyallup, Washington; and Olympia, Washington; Federal Way, Washington; Bremerton, Washington; Gig Harbor, Washington; Silerdale, Washington; Bangor, Washington; and Tacoma, Washington.

I have helped thousands of people since the mid-1990s.

It doesn’t matter where you are in Western Washington. I regularly help stressed-out people in a diverse number communities in and around the Puget Sound area of Washington, including but not in any way limited to Seattle, Washington, Everett, Washington; Renton, Washington, Kent, Washington and Auburn, Washington.

Please don’t hesitate to give me a call if you find yourself in trouble with a home or investment property. We can set a brief no-obligation in-person consultation.

Don’t forget that it does not matter where tyou live in Western Washington, be it Bellevue, Olympia, Chehalis, Aberdeen, Olympia, Lacey, Graham, Puyallup, Orting, Fife, Milton, Edgewood, Pe Ell, Raymond, Onalaska, Tenino, Tumwater, Chehalis, Centralia, Gig Harbor or Tacoma., I can often be of foreclosure and/or short sale assistance. I offer a brief, thirty minute no obligation/no cost obligation. You have nothing to lose!

Remember, in Western, Washington, I am here to help you, regardless of where you are facing financial problems, be it Federal Way, Washington; Lakewood, Washington; University Place, Washington; Puyallup, Washington; Graham, Washington; Orting, Washington; Spanaway, Washington; Lacey, Washington; Burien, Washington; Seatac, Washington; Des Moines, Washington; Bremerton, Washington; Silverdale, Washington; Tacoma, Washington; Renton, Washington; Auburn, Washington; Tukwila, Washington; Federal Way, Washington; Renton, Washington; Auburn, Washington; Tukwila, Washington; Kent, Washington; Bremerton, Washington; Silverdale, Washington; or Olympia, Washington.

Fields of Tears: One of Two: Reflections on unemployment and the Illegal immigration “problem”.

Historically, it seems that many economic downturns have been accompanied by a good dose of anti-immigrant sentiment.

I ask that before you say, write, post, preach or think things for which you may some day be embarassed, that you take a short moment to pause about the reasons for and origins of immigration.

People migrate. Every continent except Antarctica had natural migration. From wherever the craddle of homo sapien is ever found to be, we have moved and dispersed. Humans are very adaptable. As immigrants come to the United States, no amount of hate, border security or legislation is likely to dislodge them. Yes, they can adapt…but we can too.

With immigration comes a great opportunity. If you sell or marke a good or service, consider learning a little of the immigrant’s language and use this to reach out. You may be enriched personally by the mental challenge and financially by an increase in revenue. You might even make a new friend.

Spanish is probably the most common immigrant language at present. Spanish is a beautiful language, and just a fun blast of a language to speak. Learn a little of it…and embrace the inevitable hispanicization of America. Try it Mikey, you might like it!

This post focuses on The Economist artice at page 39 of the Decembert 18, 2010 edition covering the time period 12/18/10-12/31/10, entitled "Field of Tears". Economist articles are written and published without author attribution. However, whoever wrote these articles "gets it" about what is going on demographically in North America.

The story is of Teresa Vega and Marco Lopez, a married couple from Oaxaca, Mexico. They came to the United States illegally in 2005 when their oldest son died after a flood contaminated their town. They had no money to hire a doctor, so they watched their two year old son die as he vomited, got diarrhoea and ran a high fever. They left a child behind with his grandfather (little Erminio), as that child was too small to make the journey. It has been nearly six years since either Ms. Vega or Mr. Lopez has seen Erminio.

Ms. Vega and Mr. Lopez failed three times before finally being able to cross the border on their fourth try. Ms. Vega endured the hardships of trying to cross notwithstanding her pregnancy.

On one try they were intercepted by bandits and stripped naked. Ms. Vega’s fear of rape was great, but with great relief, it never came to pass.

The hostile vastess of America provided its own challenge. 80% of America’s crop workers are Hispanic, and more than half are undocumented workers.

In contrast, however, Rob Williams director of the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project (which represents farmworkers in court) estimates that 90% of farmworkers are undocumented "illegal aliens".

It is not against the law in a criminal sense to be an illegal alien, so that term "illegal alien" is syntactically incorrect. It is a crime to cross the border illegally, but to be in the US without visa or "papers" is actually just a civil infraction, not a criminal act, according to The Economist.

Many Americans are convinced that undocumented workers take jobs that American nationals would otherwise perform.

To disprove this notion, the United Farmworkers Union ran a promotion called "Take Our Jobs".

Read the next blog post to read about "Take Our Jobs"….it will suprise you! I will post the "Take Our Jobs" blog post on Friday, June 3, 2011.

Local police are not supposed to enforce immigration laws (that is what all the fuss is about in Arizona, where a state law was enacted directing that local police had to enforce federal immigration law). The Arizona law has been at least partially suspended by a federal court order.

Nevertheless, for the Vegas/Lopez family, any brush with the law is potentially disasterous. Mr. Lopez was pulled over by local police while in his car and his car was impounded for lack of a drivers’ license. The fine was $1,580 and the car was impounded and seized. Mr. Lopez had to buy a replacement car for $1,500. These expenses set the family’s finances back by years, according to The Economist.

Mr. Lopez indicated to the corresponent that the mood in America has grown darker and more hostile this past year 2010.

Crop workers (documented and undocumented) earn so little that many farm workers, even as they spend their waking hours picking food for other people, can sometimes barely afford to eat. Grape picking pays about $8.00 per hour, and on a good day, one can earn $65.00, but there is child care of about $50.00 per day to consider for the Vegas/Lopez family.

Also, not every day is a work day as there is substantial "off time" between seasons.

I have had the humble and sobering experience of being of assistance to families and singles as far north as Snohomish County and Whatcom County, and as far south as Clark County, Washington and Skamania County, Washington. I have with pleasure helped many stressed-out people in Aberdeen, Hoquiam and Gray’s Harbor County, along with the Kitsap County area and the Key Penninsula; Tukwila, Washington; Lakewood, Washington; University Place, Washington; Puyallup, Washington; and Olympia, Washington; Federal Way, Washington; Bremerton, Washington; Gig Harbor, Washington; Silerdale, Washington; Bangor, Washington; and Tacoma, Washington. ; I have even had clients in and around Port Townsend, Jefferson County.

I have helped thousands of people since the mid-1990s.

It doesn’t matter where you are in Western Washington. I regularly help stressed-out people in a diverse number communities in and around the Puget Sound area of Washington, including but not in any way limited to Seattle, Washington, Everett, Washington; Renton, Washington, Kent, Washington and Auburn, Washington.

Please don’t hesitate to give me a call if you find yourself in trouble with a home or investment property. We can set a brief no-obligation in-person consultation.

Don’t forget that it does not matter where the property is located in Western Washington, be it Bellevue, Olympia, Chehalis, Aberdeen, Olympia, Lacey, Graham, Puyallup, Orting, Fife, Milton, Edgewood, Pe Ell, Raymond, Onalaska, Tenino, Tumwater, Chehalis, Centralia, Gig Harbor or Tacoma. I can often be of foreclosure and/or short sale assistance. I offer a brief, thirty minute no obligation/no cost obligation. You have nothing to lose!

Remember, in Western, Washington, I am here to help you, regardless of where you are facing a foreclosure or short sale, be it Federal Way, Washington; Lakewood, Washington; University Place, Washington; Puyallup, Washington; Graham, Washington; Orting, Washington; Spanaway, Washington; Lacey, Washington; Burien, Washington; Seatac, Washington; Des Moines, Washington; Bremerton, Washington; Silverdale, Washington; Tacoma, Washington; Renton, Washington; Auburn, Washington; Tukwila, Washington; Federal Way, Washington; Renton, Washington; Auburn, Washington; Tukwila, Washington; Kent, Washington; Bremerton, Washington; Silverdale, Washington; or Olympia, Washington.

Rent-a-kitchen – Beating unemployment.

I found this Wednesday, December 15, 2010, New York Times Article (page 1) by Fernanda Santos to be inspiring.

Ms. Santos writes about Marisa Angebranndt, once employed by a hedge fund, who rents space in a commercial kitchen to make "whoopie pies" for sale. She adapted her grandmother’s recipie, but made it more modern with butter cream filling.

Similarly, Shefalee Patel now rents space in that same commercial kitchen to make Indian sweets.

Miguel Urrego, uses the kitchen, renting space to make a diverse menu of catered food items.

The kitchen is known as the Entrepreneur’s Space, is on 37th street near Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens, New York.

Aspiring chefs and cooks can rent space by the hour in a commercial kitchen which meets all applicable health and building codes. It is quite large, at 5,000 square feet. Rent is high during the day, at close to $231 for an 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift, but drops to $154 for the 1 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. shift.

The people using the kitchen sell what they make for a living in a number of different networks. THe Entrepreneur’s Space has no retail outlet – so you cook your food in it and then go out and sell it, or you secure orders and then you cook the food in the Entrepreneur’s Space.

The Entrepreneur’s Space is recognized as a place to combine an interest in food, and an income.

The Entrepreneur’s Space almost closed down last year in late August, but had it closed, it would have displaced some 100 small busineses reports Ms. Santos.

The kitchen was originally started with the Consortium for Worker Education, a union-backed nonprofit group. It was recently extended a lifeline with an infusion of funds from the Queens Economic Development Corporation, plus a number of other city and small group participants.

I was once introduced to a lady who made wedding cakes in a little-used kitchen space that had fallen into disuse when a social club quit using the kitchen space. The cakes were beautiful and she developed quite a little sustainable business in the old kitchen space, paying a small amount of rent.

Many people who are not presently employed have plenty of skills to contribute. I found this article encouraging and interesting, so I mention it for your inspiration.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/nyregion/15kitchen.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=A%20kitchen-for-rent%20is%20a%20lifeline%20for%20the%20laid-off&st=cse

Chinese Curriculum: Plenty of math and science – with English taught from the first grade.

Thanks to DAvid Barboza of the NY Times for his December 30, 2010, article, page A4 "Shanghai Schools’ Approach Pushes Students to Top of Tests".

Zhou Han, age 14, studies the erhu (pronounced R-hoo), a classical chinese instrument something like a large violin. She has a math tutor. She entered writing and speech making competitions. She started studying English language in the first grade.

Her school operates from about 8:20 a.m. to 4 p.m., and attends extra credit courses after school or on Saturdays.

She attends Jing’An middle school, affiliated with Jing’An Teachers’ College in Shanghai, China. This is arguably the best middle school in China.

It a test of math, reading comprehension and science ability, 5,100 Shanghai 15 year olds outperformed students from 65 other countries. American students came in between 15th and 31st out of the 65 countries in these catagories.

"Discipline is rarely a problem", said Ding Yi, vice principal at the Jing’An middle school.

There is a complaint that the Chinese public schools emphasize wrote learning and preparing for tests, according to Jiang Xueqian, deputy principal at Peking University High School in Beijing, writes the NY Times’ David Barboza. Mr. Jiang would like to see more emphasis on critical thinking, curiosity and independent thinking.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/world/asia/30shanghai.html?scp=1&sq=Shanghai%20Schools’%20approach%20pushes%20students%20to%20top%20of%20tests&st=cse

Am I going to be outsourced to Mumbai? Thomson Reuters sells BarBri and buys Pangea3

I think I am safe for now, but we will see!

Here are the players: Thomson Reuters is a large legal publisher. They own the dominant "Westlaw" computerized legal research program. They print lots of materials used by lawyers such as guides and manuals and annotated code books.

BarBri charges money to help new law graduates pass the bar exam to get a legal practice license. I took a BarBri course for about $500 or so (maybe it was $750, can’t remember precisely) back in June and July 1993. It worked. I passed all portions of the bar exam on the first try!

Pangea3 is a company that has lots of lawyers in Mumbai. Some companies like American Express, GE, Sony, Yahoo! and Netflix have used Pangea3’s Mumbai based legal staff for some routine document review and tasks with repetitive elements.

The Economist December 18, 2010 article "Offshoring your lawyer" page 132, reports that some large companies are approaching their lawyer’s directly and demanding that the American based law firm work with Pangea3’s Mumbai based staff.

Legal outsourcing to India is still small. Of the estimated $180 billion spent on lawyers each year by Americans, only about $1 billion goes to outsources, but it is growing at the rate of 20-30% per year according to The Economist.

It is reported that big law firms’ hourly rates have jumped by 65% per hour between 1998 and 2009.

1959 Cadillac tail fins, chrome and post-war exhuberance – GM designer Chuck Jordan dies at 83

In this dark and ongoing recession, or lukewarm recovery (whatever you want to call it) perhaps a revisit of 1959 would be a welcome diversion.

1959 marked the huge tail-fins of the Cadillac. Chuck Jordan was the designer. He just passed at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., the General Motors patriarch, had hired the first design director of General Motors in 1927, Harley Earl. Mr. Earl was a confidant of movie stars and like his close friend Cecil B. DeMille, favored Jodhpurs.

Mr. Jordan was the third successor to Mr. Earl as G.M.’s vice president of design, and his boldness echoed that of Mr. Earl. The tail fins on the 1959 Cadillac El Dorado was “letting the tiger out of the cage” in the words of Mr. Jordan.

Mr. Jordan also designed the “wide track” Pontiac, the baby boomers’ cherished muscle cars. Other designs included the 1963 Buick Riviera, the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado, and the 1973 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. His vision was that of longer, lower, wider–and intended to excite.

At age 30, Mr. Jordan was named to one of G.M.’s most prestigious posts, chief designer for Cadillac.

He also worked on the 1990s design team for the Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds.

He did have one dog…or rather “whale”…which was the 1991 Chevrolet Caprice, which was derided as “Shamu the Whale”.

So long, Mr. Jordan. Thank you for something so wonderfully American. Thank you for the tail fins.

Patch of California cracks down on Illegal Immigrants – even they do much of the work in that area.

The NY Times on January 5, 2011: By Ian Lovett “Patch of California Cracks Down on Illegal Immigrants”

Why is this post relevant on a bankrutpcy attorney blog? Bankruptcy gives a chance to reflect on the past and on the future. No longer are creditors calling. There is time to think. There are no garnishments. One can breath again.

Here is what I ask people to think about: In every economic crisis, there is a human tendency to blame and seek out a group to single out as if not causing, at least contributing to the misery of the moment.

Undocumented central and south Americans have not caused the recession. Nor are they contributing to the prolongation of the recession, my my estimation.

Nevertheless, 50 miles east of Los Angeles, Murrieta, California, became the fifth Inland Empire city to require all businesses to check the legal status of new employees with E-Verify, an online federal government system designed to confirm employment eligibility. Business in Murrieta that do not comply, can lose their licenses.

Temecula, California also recently enacted similar legislation into its city code.

Unemployment is around 15% in Murrieta, and anglo locals complain that immigrants are inundating industries like fast food and construction, leaving citizens unable to find jobs. The county in which Temecula and Murrieta are located, Riverside County, have latino populations of about 40%.

In California, Latinos make up about 37% of the population.

The Republican state assemblyman who represents that portion of Riverside where Temecula and Murrieta are located does not support the mandatory use of all employers by E-Verify, noting that the loss of laborers could be an unwelcome economic shock: “A lot of industries here have run on illegal immigration…work is here and available, and that’s a magnet for illegal immigrants. But I would like to see a more comprehensive approach, which also involves securing our border, and dealing with people who are already here whether we like it or not.”

Riverside is also a large agricultural area. Many immigrants work in the backbreaking harvesting of food and processing of food industries.

During the “boom” years in the middle of the 2000’s the immigration complaints were not as loud – when we needed them to build and remodel our overpriced houses to try to flip.

If bankrutpcy is giving you a fresh start to think a bit…please try to think a bit broadly and equitably, is all that I ask.