Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Strategic Default Alert

2 factors driving the trend toward strategic defaults for student loans 1-13-2016
The term “strategic default” was added to the financial glossary during the housing crisis of 2007-08. It meant homeowners made deliberate decisions not to keep making mortgage payments because they believed foreclosure would ultimately cost less than continued ownership of underwater homes. Now, the trend is gaining ground among recent college graduates with student loans--but it is impacting certain types of students and schools far more than others. Nationally, about 14 percent of all federal student loans default within three years after students leave college. A default generally is declared when a student fails to make timely payments for 270 days, and the consequences are severe including wage garnishment, loss of Social Security benefits, and confiscation of federal tax refunds. Read More at BenefitsPro

Short sale tax break on verge of being extended until 2017 12-18-2015
Homeowners who had short sales in 2015 are about to get big break on their taxes, thanks for a massive federal spending bill that’s about to be signed into law by President Obama. The Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act was set to expire at the end of 2015, and without an extension, any mortgage forgiveness achieved in a short sale would have been counted as income for homeowners whom banks allowed to sell their homes for less than the amount of their mortgage during 2015. But an extension to the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act was included in the fiscal 2016 federal appropriations and tax relief bill, which passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate on Friday. Read More at the Housing Wire