Rambo Law Offices

12/28/2022

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Orders Wells Fargo to Pay $3.7 Billion for Widespread Mismanagement of Auto Loans, Mortgages, and Deposit Accounts. Wells Fargo repeatedly misapplied loan payments, wrongfully foreclosed on homes and illegally repossessed vehicles, incorrectly assessed fees and interest, charged surprise overdraft fees, along with other illegal activity affecting over 16 million consumer accounts. See article for more information. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-orders-wells-fargo-to-pay-37-billion-for-widespread-mismanagement-of-auto-loans-mortgages-and-deposit-accounts/?_gl=1*1a93u9z*_ga*NjI3Mzk1NDA1LjE2NzIyNjE3ODU.*_ga_DBYJL30CHS*MTY3MjI2MTc4NS4xLjEuMTY3MjI2MTgxNS4wLjAuMA..

10/13/2022

Congress passed a new law allowing divorced couples to separate joint student loans. This is great news since not being able to separate joint student loans has been a big issue for divorced couples.

Congress eliminated the program in 2006 that allowed married couples to merge their student debt into a joint loan for a lower interest rate.

06/21/2022

MEDICAL DEBT CREDIT REPORTING ANNOUNCEMENT

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have collectively decided to change their reporting of medical debt collection data on all consumer credit reports. The following changes will be effective on June 24, 2022 for Experian, and on July 1, 2022 for Equifax and TransUnion:

-Paid medical collection debt will no longer be included on consumer credit reports.
-The time before unpaid medical collection debt will appear on a consumer's report will be increased from six months to one year.
-In the first half of 2023, medical debt collection accounts under a pre-defined minimum threshold will not be included on consumer credit reports. The threshold amount, which will be at least $500.00, will be published later this year.

Experian predicts that 70% of medical collections will be impacted by these changes. However, the exclusion of the medical collection debt is forecasted to impact only about 9% of medical collection trades and about 2% of all consumers.

02/25/2022

Education Department says it won’t seize child tax credit for past-due student loans.

Consumer advocates were worried the federal government would garnish tax refunds to satisfy some student-loan debts. The Education Department says it won't.

02/25/2022

If you went to DeVry, you might have already gotten money back from the FTC. That’s thanks to a 2016 FTC settlement with the school over allegations that it didn’t tell the truth about how likely it was that its grads could get jobs in their field, or how much they’d earn compared to grads from other colleges. But now, you might be eligible to get your DeVry federal student loan debt discharged, thanks to recent actions taken by the Department of Education. See more information here:

Spot and avoid scams and unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices with tips from the FTC, America’s consumer protection agency.

12/03/2021

ATTENTION ARIZONA CURRENT OR FUTURE HOMEOWNERS:

If you have any judgments against you, or have debts you might be sued on in the future, a new state law going into effect on January 1st will now allow judgments to attach to your home even if you aquire the home down the road, which is the opposite of the current law. So I encourage you to either pay or settle those debts/judgments, or file bankruptcy, before the end of the year. Please share this information and contact my office if you need assistance at (800) 966-5215 or
www.rambolawoffices.com.

07/09/2021

The Legislation passed on March 11, 2021, has expanded the amount of Child Tax Credit (CTC) available to taxpayers. Below is a summary of these changes.

The "Qualifying Child" & Credit Amount:
The new law changes the “qualifying child” age to one who has not turned 18 as of 12/31/21, or 17 and under. This age requirement is only for 2021 and only for the CTC. Please note there are requirements other than age to be a qualifying child. In general, the child must live with the taxpayer in the United States, for more than half the year and be a US citizen.

Once a qualifying child has been identified, the CTC for 2021 increases from $2000 per child to $3600 for each child under 6 and increases to $3000 for each child between 6 & 17. The credit amount is phased out based on a modified income calculation.

Payments & Un-Enrollment:
The legislation directs the IRS to make advance monthly payments of one-half the estimated annual CTC starting in July of 2021 and ending in December 2021. This means the advanced amount will NOT be available on the 2021 tax return. A very important note is that if the taxpayer does not want the advance payments, they MUST unenroll. Per the IRS, the un-enrollment instructions will be available by June 30, 2021. Un-enrollment should be done as soon as possible as the first payment is July 15, 2021.

07/04/2021

Happy Independence Day!


04/15/2021

House Bill 2617 is rapidly sliding through the Arizona legislature as we speak, which will significantly impact AZ homeowners.

It essentially eliminates Arizona's Homestead Exemption, which has protected AZ family homes for decades, by now giving judgement creditors a lien against your home, even retroactively for old judgments.

It also applies to people who have filed for bankruptcy, including old cases that were completed long ago. “Thousands of bankruptcy cases will need to be reopened at a substantial cost to the homeowner to obtain a court order avoiding a lien that did not exist at the time of the original bankruptcy,” said the Morris Institute.

In other words, this law would effectively eliminate the bankruptcy protection people thought they were getting when they filed bankruptcy. Talk about a bait and switch! Not cool!

Please contact your State Senate representatives and tell them to vote "no" on HB2617. The House already approved it and it's expected to be approved by the Senate soon too, so your voice is urgently needed.

Learn more here:

04/05/2021

If you’re a college student, faculty, or staff member, you’re going to want to pay attention to this one. IRS imposters are sending phishing emails to people with “.edu” email addresses, saying they have information about your “tax refund payment.” What do they really want? Your personal information. Read more here....

If you’re a college student, faculty, or staff member, you’re going to want to pay attention to this one.

03/17/2021

You can obtain your credit report from all three credit bureaus WEEKLY for free through April 20, 2022. Prior to the pandemic you could only get it free annually, so this is a great deal. Here's a link to more helpful tips about managing your credit during COVID.

Now it’s easier than ever to check your credit more often.

11/12/2020

A team of researchers at Georgia Tech created a peer-reviewed real-time interactive tool which assesses the statistical probability that at least one person in a gathering is infected with COVID, based on the size of a gathering and the current infection rate in the county you’re in.

So for example, a 25-person gathering in Maricopa County today has a 33% probability, and Yavapai County has a 21% probability. A 15-person gathering has a 21% and 14% probability, respectively. Some counties around the country have a 99% probability, even in a gathering of just 10.

This is very helpful information!

Here’s an article about it and the link to the tool.

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-11-11/covid-19-risk-thanksgiving-2020-what-to-expect

https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/ -9035-2

Can you have Thanksgiving during the COVID-19 pandemic? Researchers have created an interactive map that estimates the risk you’ll face in any county.