Millions of Americans have suffered an immediate and dramatic loss of income as a result of theCOVID-19 shut down. To help these Americans, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and EconomicSecurity (CARES) Act provides for payments to individuals up to $1,200 so that people can payfor food, rent, utilities, medicine, and other basic necessities.
Lawsuits are a common method used to collect alleged consumer debts, and these lawsuitsmake up a large percentage of the civil court docket around the country. Court traffic creates asubstantial risk of spreading the virus to litigants, attorneys, court personnel, and the public.
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Reverse mortgages are intended to help older Americans age in their homes. Yet, across thecountry, reverse mortgage borrowers and their spouses are losing their homes because theU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has not acted to preventunnecessary foreclosures. HUD should take immediate action to expand home retentionoptions for reverse mortgage borrowers who fall…
Action Is Needed to Ensure Access to Essential Utility Services for All Persons, Regardless of Ability to Pay, During the Public Health Emergency.
Traditionally in the United States, electric and natural gas utility service has been billed on a post-paid basis where a utility company tracks a customer‘s usage during the previous monthly or quarterly period and then mails a bill to the customer based on that usage. The customer is then required to make payment within a…
Currently 44 million student loan borrowers owe $1.6 trillion of student loan debt. Over a million federal Direct Loan borrowers entered default in a 12-month period alone. Borrowers in default are disproportionately low-income and people of color. These are the borrowers currently experiencing the brunt of America’s student loan crisis. They are the borrowers most…
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The U.S. Treasury is seizing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) refund checks from the working poor to repay student loans that are in default, and the consequences on working families are devastating. The government’s policy of seizing federal student loan borrowers’ EITC runs counter to almost everygoal Congress set for the EITC1 and its student…
Year after year, the federal government seizes Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) refund checks from the working poor to repay federal student loans that are in default, and the consequences for working families are devastating. Even this year, during a global pandemic and in the midst of record unemployment, the U.S. Department of Education has…
Advocates draw attention to concerns about digital wallets (PayPal/Venmo) and similar person-to-person (P2P) services (Zelle), which is used between bank accounts.
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