Near the beginning of each month, many in the personal finance community share, with varying degrees of detail, their financial situations. We see net worth reports, and some of them are even itemized. I always enjoy reading these reports and find them quite interesting — and sometimes inspiring. However, I have always been vaguely uncomfortable with offering too many details about my finances. A lot of it has to do with my upbringing in a family that did not talk much about the particulars of finances with those not in the immediate family.

While I think that this taboo is part of my reluctance to share details about my family’s financial situation with friends and family (and the wider PF community), for many of us, there are probably other factors at work. Esp

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AMENDED ANSWER AND COUNTERCLAIM

COMES NOW, Defendant, by and through his attorneys of record and files his amended Answer and Counterclaim against Deutsche Bank National Trust Company as Trustee (Deutsche) and American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. (AHMSI) as follows:
1. All allegations of the original answer and counterclaim are asserted and incorporated as if fully set forth herein. This amendment is adding to the original answer and counterclaim – no claims or allegations are withdrawn.
2. This amended pleading is filed pursuant to Rule 15 and Rule 8.
3. D

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The US dollar strengthened against most major currencies after new housing prices and wholesale inventories rose slightly. New housing prices rose to 0.2 percent above expectations for a rise of 0.1 percent, while wholesale inventories rose to 1.5 percent from a consensus of 0.6 percent. The market will look towards this week’s meeting of the Group of 20 leaders in South Korea, where one of the topics will be preventing a currency “war” where countries rush to protectionism, which would hamper the overall global recovery. In the meantime look for the dollar to hold close to current ranges ahead of initial jobless claims and trade balance figures tomorrow, where expectations are for a loss of 450,000 jobs and a slight decline in the trade figure to -$45.6 billion from -$46.35 billion last month.

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FAQ / ERISA Information:
How long does the disability insurance company have to make a claim decision once the application for ERISA long term disability benefits is submitted?

The Department of Labor has drafted regulations which provide that a disability claim must be resolved, at the initial level, within 45 days of receipt of a complete application; a plan may, however, extend that decisionmaking period for an additional 30 days for reasons beyond the control of the plan.

If, after extending the time period for a first period of 30 days, the plan administrator determines that it will still be unable, for reasons beyond the control of the plan, to make the decision within the extension period, the plan may extend decisionmaking for a second 30-day period

FAQ / ERISA Information:
Why is ERISA an unfair law for disability insurance claimants?

ERISA stands for the Employer Retirement Income Security Act and it was a Federal law that was passed in the early 1970s which was supposed to make it more affordable for employers to be able to offer long term disability coverage as well as health insurance for employees.

Disability Insurance Attorneys Gregory Dell and Stephen Jessup discuss the numerous reasons that ERISA is an unfair law that can negatively impact the thousands of people that file disability insurance claims each year.

Disability Case:
First Unum terminates long-term disability benefits after 4 years of paying and SSDI approval

In a recent Federal Court decision in favor of First Unum, the Court validated the right of a long-term disability insurance plans to rely upon functional capacity evaluations (FCE) as a basis for determining whether or not the claimant has the right to continue receiving disability insurance benefits.

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Bankruptcy is a legitimate option for many Alabama consumers but what do you do when after you have received a discharge (meaning you don’t owe the debt anymore) the mortgage company — such as Bank of Americar (BAC Home Loan Servicing) — continues to call and write to collect on a debt that does not exist anymore?

What do you do after you tell the company to not bother you — to not call you on your cell phone with an illegal autodialer, to not write you anymore?

When the mortgage company — whether Chase, GMAC, Litton Loan, PHH, LPP, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc — won’t stop breaking the law then one way to get them to stop is to sue them.

We have copied the allegations from a lawsuit we filed against Bank of America (BAC Home Loan Servicing) on this subject to give you an idea of some options you have when dealing with this type of company violating the law in this way.

COMPLAINT

COMES NOW the Plaintiff, by and through counsel, in the above styled cause, and for Plaintiff’s Complaint against the BAC states as follows:
1. T

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Getting an auto loan is a bit like investing in the stock market—it’s all about timing. But when you need a new car, you often don’t have the luxury or flexibility to bide your time until the market is just right. Luckily, you can still cash in on good deals when they appear by refinancing your auto loan. Car loan refinancing lets you pick the right time to lock in low interest rates so you can save money in the long run. Here are four clear signs that it might be time to consider refinancing your car loan.

1. You Got Scammed by Auto Dealer Loan Markups

Get this—if you got an auto loan directly from your dealer, they probably tacked an extra 1 to 2 percent onto your interest rate. It’s ca

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One of the benefits of the recent financial crisis is the permanent increase of the FDIC insurance for savings accounts from $100,000 per depositor, per institution to $250,000.

Another, is the general public’s increased focus on everything personal finance. Our friends at Moneysupermarket prepared an infographic today that will help with this very phenomenon: help you become more familiar with savings and money market accounts with some of the more frequently asked questions about them.

[Click on the picture below for the full sized version]