Posts Tagged ‘purpose’

Knowing About Mortgage Insurance

October 1st, 2011

The mortgage market has grown in leaps and bounds over the last two decades and so has the market; whose main consumers are the people in the housing industry. There are two main types of mortgage insurance; mortgage life insurance and private mortgage insurance. The latter is mandatory and is part of most mortgage deals. Many times private dealers ensure that private insurance is part of the mortgage and it has been made part of the mortgage legislation in many places in the union. Mortgage life insurance is not mandatory and is taken by people who want to ensure that the house they are paying for remains in the hands of their descendants in case of their death or disability.

The purpose of mortgage insurance is to ensure that there is no foreclosure on the house in case the borrower fails to pay the mortgage according to the terms and conditions of the mortgage. Most of the time, private mortgage insurance includes the monthly charges as has been stipulated in the contract. The importance of a this insurance is that it provides the security against losing a home in the instance that the insured person has failed to pay the money he owes the lender.

Most lenders are not giving private insurance even to people who offer lower than 25% down payment on their mortgage loan. This means too that they are no longer giving them lower interest rates compared to their counterparts who pay more than 25% of the mortgage loan. When the outstanding value of the loan is less than 80% of the value of the home there is no need for private insurance and this means that it can be called off at any time within the repayment period. Depending on the lender, some borrowers will not be allowed to call off the private insurance unless the value falls below 50% of the assessed value of the house.

» Read more: Knowing About Mortgage Insurance

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Collection Agencies

September 10th, 2011

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act controls how and when collection agencies go about collecting outstanding debts. Congress determined that collection practices were abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors. To combat inadequacies in existing laws, the FDCPA was passed. The purpose of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is to insure collection agencies do not use any abusive collection actions and to make sure there is consistent State action to protect consumers from collection agencies. A large limitation of the FDCPA is that this law only applies to collection agencies, not the original creditor attempting to collect a debt.

What is a Violation of the FDCPA?

A collection agency may not contact a person owing a debt during an unusual time, an unusual place or a time or place that is known to be inconvenient. A convenient time is assumed to be between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. A debt collector may not contact a consumer if the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney and the attorney’s contact information is readily available. A collector may not contact a person at their place of employment if they know the employer does not allow such phone calls. Collection agencies may not call or speak with any person other than the consumer who owes the debt or their attorney. If a consumer sends in writing a cease and desist letter to the debt collector, the collector shall not communicate any further with the consumer unless it is to advise that the collection agency is terminating all collection efforts or a remedy to the nonpayment of the debt is being chosen. A deb collector may not take any action to harass, oppress or abuse any person in connection with an attempt to collect a debt. The following are defined as harassment: the use and/or threat of use of violence or harm to reputation and property; the use of profane language; advertisement of sale debt to force payment. A collector may not represent they are attorneys or part of the State or Federal governments.

» Read more: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Collection Agencies