Published on: January 19, 2023

REPAYE will be Revamped and the Changes are FANTASTIC!

New IDR Terms Announced! Sorry for the delay in getting this out, Covid has put me behind a week or so.

The new IDR Plan expected out in July before the payment pause ends will not exactly be a new plan. Instead of confusing borrowers and making yet another IDR plan, the Department of Education has decided to modify the terms of the existing Repaye plan to try and simply things. While some of us are a little worried that this process would enable a future administration to change the terms back, we do feel that the steps underway will be a huge improvement for federal student loan borrowers. Also, it would be difficult for a new administration to back date substantive negative changes so while we don’t expect this to occur, it’s in the back of our minds.

The changes are underway now and a formal 30 day comment period commenced a few days ago. If the terms do not meaningfully change before implementation this summer or fall, here’s what to expect:

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Published on: December 8, 2022

Bankruptcy is Finally an Option for Federal Student Loans

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Here’s a news clip on this topic that ran yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77xsEU7rFM0

It’s a good short 2 minute summary of what this means and well worth a listen! I haven’t seen this in the news much and we really need to get the word out because in my 30 years of practice, I see this as finally working to discharge significant federal student loan debt.

So how are we starting on this to get our student loan and bankruptcy clients discharges in 2023?

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Published on: November 30, 2022

Are You Being Contacted by a Debt Collector for an Old Debt?

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

When is it time to ignore calls versus doing something about them?

If you are being harassed or threatened collection actions on old debt, there are many things to consider. First, a legitimate collector is required to send you something in writing within five days of the initial contact under the FDCPA. That’s sort of a litmus test. Receiving nothing in writing is a violation, but it’s also a sign of a debt scammer.

Second, check your credit report via annualcreditreport.com. If the debt is on there, it’s causing you harm and you should do something about it. Contact us or another consumer attorney — the first steps would be to dispute the debt. Often the consumer rules aren’t being followed. For instance, balances are reflected more than once, or are inaccurate in other ways. We often file actions under the Fair Credit Reporting Act which may result in the debt being removed once and for all (waiver of debt or trade line deletion), and you may receive damages due to the inaccuracies. Everything relies on good credit it seems. Bad credit can harm you in all kinds of ways. You don’t pay us up front – we only get paid if we are successful in obtaining a recovery.

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Published on: November 21, 2022

Surprise surprise — The Exit from Forbearance Can Get Messy!

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

While it took longer than I and many other consumer advocates thought, the house of cards is starting to slip finally. Many mortgage companies did not fully disclose exactly what would be required once the CARES Act expired and mortgage payments would resume. I’m sure many homeowners have claims out there but don’t realize it. These consumer claims are no small thing and can be leveraged for better mortgage terms than what is being offered. The CFPB is going after Carrington with a big fine — but a private action will result in actual damages for the homeowner.

CFPB Takes Action Against Carrington Mortgage for Cheating Homeowners out of CARES Act Rights

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is taking action against Carrington Mortgage Services for deceptive acts or practices under the Consumer Financial Protection Act in connection with mortgage forbearances, according to a CFPB press release. The CFPB found that Carrington failed to implement many protections, provided to borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans who were experiencing financial hardship, during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The CFPB found that Carrington misled certain homeowners who had sought a forbearance under the CARES Act into paying improper late fees, deceived consumers about forbearance and repayment options, and inaccurately reported the forbearance status of borrowers to the big three credit-reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The CFPB is ordering Carrington to repay any late fees not already refunded, repair its faulty business practices, and pay a $5.25 million penalty that will be deposited into the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

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Published on: October 22, 2022

PSLF Waiver Deadline: One Week Left

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Borrowers seeking public service loan forgiveness have ONE week left or until October 31, 2022, to:

Get your consolidation application filed for any FFEL or Perkins loans to make them eligible; AND
Have your employer sign the PSLF certification form.

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Published on: October 21, 2022

10k Forgiveness is Only a Small Part of Student Loan Forgiveness!

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

We were able to help Michelle get rid of $160,000 in federal student loan debt and she posted this Google review today. Note that the Biden forgiveness of 10k would have only been small drop in a very large bucket. There are lots of things going on out there – and if you have student loan debt, this year is the very best year for you to finally do something about it!

$160,000.oo in student loan debt gone. $160,000.oo to $0.oo I wasn’t sure at first. They helped me file for my total and permanent disability discharge. I had my initial consultation with Attorney Arkovich and she was spot on with everything. After my initial consultation I worked with Jeremy on everything. He always answered my emails and phone calls quickly no matter the question. Even after my discharge he responded quickly to a question I had. I never thought I would get rid of my student loan debt. With my health failing it was a burden that I would never be able to manage. I would recommend Attorney Arkovich to any disabled person who needs help. My personal experience was exceptional. Thank you Attorney Arkovich and Jeremy

Published on: October 12, 2022

Joint Spousal Loans Be Gone!!!!

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Much like the chaos of a Targaryen family dinner, the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act was signed into law today by President Biden – which creates an enormous timing problem.

While this is awesome news for borrowers of federal student loans who are trapped in this “One Way In, No Way Out” Spousal consolidation program where none of the newest and best ways to obtain forgiveness applies — there is one very large problem and that is timing.

You only have two weeks to take advantage of this change for public service work!!! Why isn’t this being talked about?

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Published on: August 19, 2022

PSLF Guide by Federal Student Aid

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Click here to view this email as a web page.

Register Now: A Guide to Submit the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Form

Webinar: A Guide to Submit the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Form

Wednesday, August 24, 2022; 8–9 p.m. Eastern time

This webinar is intended for students, parents, and federal student loan borrowers and will include information about

•	the PSLF program,
•	the limited PSLF waiver,
•	the PSLF Help Tool, and
•	additional resources to help navigate the process.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions.

Register Here

Published on: July 19, 2022

Questions about the Navient/AG Settlement and Whether Your Private Loans are Discharged?

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Are you unsure whether your private student loans are covered by the Navient/AG settlement?

Navient has sent or is still sending out correspondence to all qualifying private loans under the Navient/AG settlement – give that until the end of July per the settlement – if your address is current with your loan servicer, you will receive information if your loans are eligible. There are many factors that preclude someone from qualifying unfortunately including credit scores for some provisions. There is no court mechanism for us to bring up a borrower’s loan that we think should be eligible. I don’t believe the class action attorneys themselves have any remedy for that in their case.

The most we’ve been able to do is force a bankruptcy stay based upon likely inclusion in the AG settlement.

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Published on: July 15, 2022

Our Very First Disability Student Loan Discharge Case

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

I fondly recall our very first Total and Permanent (“TPD”) case a few years back. An older borrower, as I remember, who was probably in her late 60s, reached out to us after she basically gave up trying to get her federal student loans forgiven even though she had qualified for Social Security Disability. She had sent her SSD approval letter to the Department of Education and its debt collector, but apparently both letters had been lost.

As a result, her Social Security continued to be offset and she received frequent and rude calls from debt collectors who persisted despite her telling them that she was disabled. No one cared. She was fairly distraught and at the end of her rope, with no one to turn to. Her servicer wasn’t helping. The SSA and the Department of Education weren’t able to help her. The debt collectors were even calling a friend of hers who had nothing to do with the loans. These calls persisted even after she had sent in a TPD application, and after she retained our services.

Once she retained our services, we filed a consumer collections case under Florida and Federal law for these violations. We also sent in a TPD application for her and obtained full forgiveness of her federal loans. Rather than her paying us for obtaining this result, we were able to put money in her pocket from the wrongful debt collection that had occurred, plus we were finally able to put her student loan debt to bed. The other side ending up paying our fees due to the collection violation case.

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