Miscellaneous
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Can a homeowners association charge interest on unpaid association fees, in addition to the late fee?
Only if the original association documents, that you agreed to, allow it.
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What are Contracts Under Seal?
A contract under seal is considered a more formal contract. Generally, valuable consideration is necessary to make an enforceable contract but for a contract under seal, no consideration is necessary. Traditionally, such a contract carries with it an *irrebuttable presumption of consideration. (The phrase, "irrebuttable presumption of consideration" means that the person who owns the contract can expect to receive the stated value of the contract and that the contractor (whomever signed the contract) will deliver the stated value according to the contract without argument.
The Law long ago decided that a seal, real or imitation, attached to a promise, amounted to good consideration for that promise, despite the fact that the man who makes the promise puts the seal there. In reality, whether a contract has a seal or not does not make any difference in its legal effect.
Today, a seal is generally an impression stamped or embossed on paper to authenticate a document or attest to a signature, such as a corporate or notary seal. Some jurisdictions, especially states on the eastern seaboard, require certain documents such as deeds and leases to be under seal.
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What are debt suspension and debt cancellation contracts?
Debt Suspension Contracts (DSC) and Debt Cancellation Contracts (DCC) are banking products that substitute for credit insurance.
The Comptroller of the Currency, Administrator of National Banks (OCC) finalized it's regulation, 12 CFR part 37 effective June 16, 2003. This regulation covers DCCs and DSAs issued by national banks. These are banking products, not insurance products thus federal law, not state law, governs them and state insurance regulators have no role in the regulation of these products.
Debt Cancellation Contracts
The regulation broadly defines debt cancellation contracts and debt suspension agreements. A debt cancellation contract is defined as a loan term or contractual arrangement modifying loan terms under which a bank agrees to cancel all or part of a customer's obligation to repay an extension of credit upon the occurrence of a specified event.
The regulation does not otherwise define what is a "specified event." Thus, a national bank is free to design its contracts to address not only traditional events such as death, disability or involuntary unemployment of a borrower, but also any event that may reasonably be expected to occur in the life of a borrower.
Debt Suspension Agreements
A debt suspension agreement is defined as a loan term or contractual arrangement modifying loan terms under which a bank agrees to suspend all or part of a customer's obligation to repay an extension of credit from that bank upon the occurrence of a specified event.
This definition is intended to cover debt suspension agreements under which interest continues to accrue during the suspension period, as well as those under which the accrual of interest is suspended. It also provides that a debt suspension agreement does not include arrangements in which the borrower unilaterally decides to defer a payment or the bank unilaterally decides to allow a deferral of a payment, so-called "skip-a-payment" agreements.
See additional information here...
Debt & Loan Insurance
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What are the
The top 10 frauds listed in the FTC report are:
1. Advance-fee loan scams 4.55 million victims;
2. Buyers clubs 4.05 million victims;
3. Credit card insurance 3.35 million victims;
4. Credit repair 2 million victims;
5. Prize promotions 1.8 million victims;
6. Internet services 1.75 million victims;
7. Pyramid schemes 1.55 million victims;
8. Information services .8 million victims;
9. Government job offers .65 million victims; and
10.Business opportunities .45 million victims.
The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) statistical survey of fraud in the United States shows that nearly 25 million adults or 11.2 percent of the adult population were victims of fraud during the year studied.
Advance-fee Loan Scams; the most frequently reported type of consumer fraud:
This scam involves consumers paying a fee for a “guaranteed” loan or credit card. 4 1/2 million consumers paid advance fees but did not receive the promised loan or card. In fact, some consumers reported that more than once during the last year they paid fees to get loans or credit cards they did not get.
Buyers’ Club Memberships and Unordered Publications;
The second most commonly reported fraud! Four million consumers were billed for memberships they did not authorize or publications they did not order. Credit card insurance scams and credit repair were the third and fourth most common frauds identified in the survey.
While federal law limits consumers’ credit card fraud liability to $50, fraudsters sell credit card insurance by falsely claiming that card holders face significant financial risk if their credit cards are misused. An estimated 3.3 million consumers bought unnecessary insurance against the unauthorized use of their credit cards. Some fraudsters convince consumers that they can help them remove truthful, negative information from their credit report, or establish a new credit record. They can't, and credit repair schemes are illegal, but two million consumers paid for “credit repair” services the year prior to the survey.
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What is a Lien?
Lien: A legal right or interest that a creditor or other person(s) have in another's property and lasting until the debt that the lien secures, is paid.
Mechanic's Lien:
The right of a craftsman, laborer, supplier, architect or other person who has worked upon improvements or delivered materials to a particular parcel of real estate (either as an employee of the owner or as a sub-contractor to a general contractor) to place a lien on that real property for the value of the services and/or materials if not paid.
Numerous other technical laws surround mechanic's liens, including requirements of prompt written notice to the owner of the property (even before the general contractor has been tardy in making payment), limits on the amount collectable in some states, and various time limitations to enforce the lien.
Ultimate, last-resort enforcement of the mechanic's lien is accomplished by filing a lawsuit to foreclose the lien and have the property sold in order to be paid.
Property owners should make sure that their general contractors pay their employees or subcontractors to avoid a mechanic's lien, since the owner could be forced to pay the debts of a general contractor even though the owner has already paid the contractor. If the worker or supplier does not sue to enforce the mechanic's lien, he/she may still sue for the debt.
The term mechanic's lien is also referred to as "materialman's lien" and "construction lien" and used when improvements, repairs or maintenance is performed on real property.
Creditors, debt collectors and ordinary citizens can petition courts to grant a judgment and and then place a lien on a debtor's "Real Property".
Called a "Judgment Lien", the lien places an encumbrance on the property so that, if the property is sold and funds are left over after the primary lienholder (mortgage or loan company) is paid in full, any excess funds are used to pay down or pay off the lien.
Note: The term "Real Property" is legally distinguished from "Personal Property". Land is called real property. Personal property is also called chattels (defined as any property - consumable or nonconsumable, tangible or intangible) and is property other than the land itself.
If you receive a "notice of a lien", ALWAYS respond! If the lien surprises you, immediately check with the court that issued the lien and see if a mistake was made. Request copies of all court documents and look for any discrepancies and, if any exist, consider filing a petition to rehear the case. You might just get the case overturned.
Remember: DO NOT fail to respond!
Liens on a house, real property liens, judgment liens and state or federal tax liens all mean the same basic thing as described above.
However, it's important to note that tax liens take priority over all other liens placed on a property. So, if your property already has a lien from a credit card company and then a tax lien is placed against the property, the tax lien gets paid first after any mortgages are satisfied.
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What is a promissory note and when is the legal due date?
A promissory note is an instrument involving two parties in two capacities. One party, the "maker" promises to pay a second party, the payee, a stated sum of money, either on demand or at a stated future date.
The note may range from a simple "I promise to pay $X to the order of Y" form or more complex legal instruments such as installment notes, collateral notes, mortgages, and judgment notes.
"Time Note" is a note payable at a future date.
"Demand Note" is a note payable upon the request of the payee or demand of the payee or holder.
For an instrument to be negotiable it must contain within its four corners all the information required to determine whether it is negotiable. To be negotiable, the instrument must:
be in writing;
be signed;
contain a promise or order to pay;
be unconditional;
be for a fixed amount, be for money;
contain no other undertaking or instruction;
be payable on demand or at a definite time, and
be payable to order or to bearer.
If these requirements are not met, the instrument is not negotiable, and the rights of the parties are governed by the law of contract.
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