Free Republic

History demonstrates that attempts to “cure” a problem by exceeding the federal government’s constitutional powers generally lead to more and worse problems... “A rage ... for an abolition of debts ... or for any other improper or wicked project ....” — James Madison, Federalist No. 10.. The courts, in the exercise of what is called “equity jurisdiction,” have long excused borrowers from obligations incurred through fraud, duress, and other forms of creditor unfairness.. In addition, federal bankruptcy laws (authorized in the Constitution by Article I, Section 8, Clause 4) offer a path to safety for debtors who get in over...

President Joe Biden Wednesday said he would never stop fighting for hardworking Americans as he put the spotlight on his debt cancellation efforts and ramps up his reelection campaign. He slammed MAGA Republicans and said even the Supreme Court could not stop him for helping hundreds of thousands of people saddled with years of debt. And he said he was not worried about further court challenges to his massive forgiveness program.

The Biden administration released its proposal for which struggling borrowers should qualify for its new student loan forgiveness plan. It said that receiving a Pell Grant, a disability and age could be factors signaling hardship.

Student-debt relief through a reform to the SAVE plan is coming in February. Those who originally borrowed $12,000 or less and made at least 10 years of payments could see relief. Borrowers not enrolled in the SAVE plan will need to do so to make use of the benefit. More student-loan borrowers can expect debt relief starting this month through a new repayment reform. In early January, the Education Department announced that borrowers enrolled in the SAVE income-driven repayment plan who originally borrowed $12,000 or less would begin to see their loans forgiven in February if they made at least...

A Hilton hotel in San Francisco has defaulted on its mortgage, missing its $97 million loan payment - in the latest in the 'doom loop' crisis for the liberal city. The city’s hospitality sector is faltering alongside the rise in rampant crime, debilitating homelessness, and dangerous public drug use - with fewer people wanting to visit San Fran compared to before the pandemic. According to a securities filing, the owner of the Hilton Financial District, a 544-room hotel, said it defaulted on a loan last Wednesday. It was warned that its lenders could potentially seek to foreclose on the property...

Nearly 5,000 voters in seven swing states all prefer Donald Trump over President Joe Biden in a damning new survey that shows the ex-president could re-flip states that went against him in 2020. On average, 47 percent of voters in the battleground states would cast their ballot for Trump if a general election against Biden were held today compared to the president's 42 percent support, according to a Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll released on Thursday. Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Nevada were included in the poll, which only has a margin of error of 1 percentage point when...

Wells Fargo received an official notice on problems with its use of mortgage rate discounts from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sources said. Wells Fargo hired a law firm to grill mortgage bankers whose sales included high levels of the discounts, said the sources. Several banks received MRAs about lending practices last year, the CFPB said without naming any of the institutions. In their industry review, regulators found “statistically significant disparities” in the rates in which Black and female borrowers got pricing exceptions compared to other customers.

* Biden is sending emails to 813,000 student-loan borrowers whose loans were wiped out in August. * It's a result of account adjustments to ensure all borrowers' payments are accounted for. * This email comes just months after borrowers resumed federal payments after the pandemic-era pause. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Check your email: Thousands of student-loan borrowers are receiving emails from President Joe Biden after their balances have been reduced to zero. On Tuesday, the White House announced that about 813,000 borrowers whose accounts were adjusted in August will receive an email from Biden congratulating them on their loans being forgiven due to...

Bank of Nova Scotia ... the Canadian lender missed fourth-quarter profit estimates as uncertain economic climate prompted it to set aside more funds to guard against bad loans. Scotiabank kicks off Canadian banks' earning season, wrapping up a financial year marked with economic uncertainty, rising credit loss provisions as more consumers struggle to pay off their mortgages, layoffs to cut costs, and rising expenses. The bank's shares fell nearly 5% in early trading, dragging down Canada's main stock index (.GSPTSE). Lenders have been bracing for a surge in loan defaults as effects of the central bank's monetary policy tightening flow...

With auto loan rates at historic highs, rising payments, and mounting consumer debt, the auto lending industry is facing an inflection point. With lenders continuing to tighten restrictions and some even deciding to leave the consumer auto loans market, the stage is set for what could become a full-blown auto loan debt crisis. But how impactful such a crisis would be and how the industry can navigate its way out remains to be seen.

As U.S. President Joe Biden’s stalled student loan forgiveness plan means repayment is set to resume on Oct. 1, a growing number of student loan borrowers are claiming they either cannot or will not pay the debt back. In fact, an August survey from student and education resource publication Intelligent.com revealed that 62% of respondents said they are considering boycotting loan payments in the fall as almost half of them doubt they will be able to afford those payments. Twenty-nine-year-old Shahem Mclaurin took to TikTok to ask hard questions about whether borrowers like him should protest what many view as...

One year ago today, millions of student-loan borrowers received the news some of them had been awaiting for decades - up to $20,000 of their student-loan balance would be wiped out. But they have yet to receive that relief. President Joe Biden's announcement was a long time coming. Since he took office, his administration was weighing its options to get relief to borrowers, and Biden himself even questioned his authority to enact broad debt relief. But on August 24, 2022, his administration concluded that he had the authority to cancel student debt for federal borrowers using the HEROES Act of...

(NerdWallet) – Federal student loan repayment resumes in the coming months - interest begins accruing in September, with payments starting in October - after a 3½-year payment pause. According to a new NerdWallet survey, most federal student loan borrowers (88%) didn’t make payments during the pandemic forbearance. If you’re one of these borrowers, here are five steps to prepare for repayment. 1. Know your details 2. Decide on a payment plan 3. Review your budget 4. Understand the downside of not making payments 5. Set up autopay

Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez carried thousands of dollars in student loan debt last year, new financial disclosures show. During that time, the Bronx and Queens congresswoman was pining for mass student loan cancellation, publicly urging the the Biden administration to use unconstitutional executive action to accomplish it. “I’m 32 years old now,” Ocasio-Cortez complained on the House floor in December 2021. “I have over $17,000 in student loan debt, and I didn’t go to graduate school because I knew that getting another degree would drown me in debt that I would never be able to surpass. This is unacceptable.”...

President Trump has had a lot of ups and downs in his real estate career, which means his relations with banks and credit can be pretty dicey. The matter was made worse for him in the wake of the January 6 protests, where wokester banks outright cut him off. His Trump Organization financial operation however did find a bank that would loan to his organization, a relatively small bank in San Diego called Axos Bank. and that set the Washington Post scrambling to look for some seedy Biden-style corruption. They found nothing. They must have spent some time on this,...

After finding legal loopholes around the Supreme Court’s student loan decision, one personal finance expert unveiled what the Biden administration isn’t broadcasting about its new repayment plan. "They're really pulling the wool over people's eyes because they go, 'oh, there's forgiveness here, I don't have to pay my loan,'" Jade Warshaw, "The Ramsey Show" co-host, said Wednesday on FOX Business' "Mornings with Maria." "But what they're not saying is how many years it takes to actually get this forgiveness." President Biden announced the new student loan handout legislation - dubbed the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan - which...

President Joe Biden will forgive $39 billion in student debt for 804,000 Americans - two weeks after the Supreme Court struck down his $430 billion relief plan because it was unconstitutional. The president has continued his push to wipe billions in student debt, despite anger from taxpayers and Americans who have never been to college. The landmark Supreme Court decision dealt his plan a huge blow, but the White House has vowed to plow ahead to get widespread relief. Critics slammed the 'absurd' announcement and called it a 'slap in the face to taxpayers'. David Williams, President of the Taxpayers...

OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the Titan submersible disaster, was forgiven of its $450,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan, according to the ProPublica PPP Loan Database. OceanGate builds submersibles for tourism and research, but its inherently risky business model raises questions, and led to the tragic deaths of five people in the ocean in June. Its liability waiver for sub tourism mentioned the possibility of death three times on the first page alone. Now, some are accusing the company of cutting corners. James Cameron, the renowned Titanic explorer and director of the 1997 movie, said, "I was very suspect of the...

Jarrett, 38, isn't feeling too hot about President Joe Biden's new plan for student-loan forgiveness. After graduating with an undergraduate degree during the 2008 financial crisis, Jarrett - who requested his last name be withheld for privacy but whose identity is known to Insider - was laid off from his job. He decided pursuing an MBA would make him more appealing to employers, so that's what he did, and he graduated with his advanced degree in 2012 with the help of student loans. But Jarrett said the degree didn't pay off as intended. For years after graduating, he struggled to...

resident Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have overturned his student debt relief plan, leaving program's fate in the hands of the Supreme Court. Both the House and Senate approved the legislation that would block the president's program, which promises to cancel up to $20,000 of debt for millions of borrowers but has been held up by courts. 'I'm not gonna back down in my efforts to help pretend to manage and working and middle class families. That's why I'm going to veto this bill,' Biden said in a video posted to the White House social media...