Part of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in March 2020, included temporary foreclosure and eviction protections for homeowners holding federally guaranteed mortgages. This emergency regulatory safeguard kept millions of Americans at home during the pandemic’s most economically crippling time. (These are the states where most people own their homes.)

Thanks to the continued spike in home prices nationwide, many of these borrowers are holding more equity in their homes than before the global virus outbreak. But not everyone emerged above the water from this abstention lifeline.

According to recent analysis by real estate data provider ATTTOM, foreclosure filings hit a post-pandemic high in the first quarter of 2022 at 78,271, up 39% from the previous quarter and 132% from the same period. period last year. To find the states with the most foreclosures, 24/7 Wall St. looked at 2021 and 2022 foreclosure data provided by ATTOM Data Solutions. States are ranked by the number of foreclosures per 100,000 dwellings.

Foreclosure activity is still 57% lower than it was in the first three months of 2020, but the return to normal is fast approaching. Foreclosures have declined in the 12 months to March 2022 in just three states – Alaska and the Dakotas – while foreclosure activity has jumped more than 200% in five states – New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Nevada and Michigan. Foreclosure activity jumped nearly 500% in Nevada and Michigan. Nationally, foreclosure activity increased by 135%.

Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Philadelphia had the highest number of foreclosures. For cities with populations under 200,000, the highest foreclosure rates were in Cleveland, Ohio; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Jacksonville, North Carolina; Rockford, Ill.; and Columbia, South Carolina. (See also the city with the highest housing costs of any state.)

In three states — Wyoming, Louisiana and Mississippi — underwater mortgages accounted for between 10% and 17% of all mortgages, the most among the states. An underwater mortgage is when a home is worth less than the money owed on the mortgage.

Here’s the state with the worst foreclosure rate this year

Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, addresses a crowd of about 100 people in Denison on April 20.

Iowa officials joined in bipartisan support to help veterans and members of the armed forces re-enter the workforce, as well as advance breast cancer treatment technology for female veterans.

Before the House took a two-week recess, lawmakers also passed legislation to allocate additional funds to address the baby formula shortage.

Shortage of infant formula

Iowa lawmakers disagreed on how best to address a national infant formula shortage.

All Iowa lawmakers supported the Access to Baby Formula Act. The bill directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that those dependent on the federal Women, Infants, and Children’s Assistance (WIC) program receive formula at an affordable price.

Sen. Chuck Grassley was one of the co-sponsors of the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously on Thursday and is heading to the president’s desk.

“Today and in the future, we must ensure that all families are able to buy the formula milk needed to feed their infants. That’s why I was proud to support the Infant Formula Access Act, which will help families use the WIC program while taking the necessary steps to prevent a dangerous infant formula shortage from happening again. “Grassley said in a statement.

Rep. Cindy Axne, the only Democrat on the delegation, was the only one from Iowan to support the Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriation Act, which passed the House this week. The bill would allocate $28 million in emergency funds to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to deal with the crisis and prevent future shortages. In Iowa, more than 50% of formulas are out of stock.

“As a mom, I know firsthand how critical it is for families to have access to safe baby formula and the current crisis is leaving families in Iowa and across the country with no one to go to. to turn. I’ve heard stories of parents in my district spending hours trying to find formula, and it’s unacceptable,” Axne said in a press release.

Rep. Ashley Hinson has proposed an alternative plan that would take $5.7 million from unused pandemic funds to address the formula shortage. His plan would also require the FDA to report to Congress on the supply chain shortage.

“The Biden administration ignored warning signs that a formula shortage was imminent, sitting on its hands until the shelves were empty,” Hinson said in a press release. “Their incompetence underscores the need for funding with safeguards and accountability for FDA failures. Throwing extra money at a problem is the wrong approach.

Supporting veterinarians to develop small businesses

A bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst to help veterans develop their entrepreneurial skills passed the Senate Small Business Committee on Wednesday. Ernst sponsored the Veterans Entrepreneurship Training (VET) Act with Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and veteran. The bill creates trade training for serving members of the armed forces and veterans.

In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 386,000 veterans were unemployed, but that number has been declining over time. The VET law would codify the “Boots to Business” program for four years.

“Our service members and their families sacrifice themselves to defend and preserve our country, and for many, the years following their time in uniform can be difficult,” Ernst said in a press release. “We want to create ways to make this transition to civilian life easier by providing them with opportunities that will allow them to succeed not only in the job market, but also in their everyday lives.”

Create health services for female veterans

The Senate and House passed two bipartisan laws to support female veterans. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks co-sponsored the SERVICE Act with Republican and Democratic members of the Senate.

The bill would require Veterans Affairs to inform the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees of the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer who serve in the armed forces. It would also require the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide mammography screenings to veterans who have been exposed to combustion fireplaces or other toxic exposures. Miller-Meeks told the House on Wednesday that female veterans have a 20 to 40 percent higher risk of breast cancer, and the risk increases when exposed to toxins and burns.

Miller-Meeks also joined Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, in introducing the MAMMO for Veterans Act, which passed unanimously in the Senate. This bill would upgrade all 3D mammograms at Veterans Affairs to the highest level of imaging technology and expand research for the treatment of breast cancer.

“Our veterans risked their lives and health in the service of our country. Female veterans are at particular risk for several types of cancer, particularly breast cancer,” Miller-Meeks said in a press release. “As a physician, I have always told my patients that early detection is the key to successful treatment of all types of cancer. I am thrilled to see my two bipartisan bills pass the House today and look forward to seeing them become laws to support female veterans across the country.

Axne to expand affordable post-secondary education for veterans

A bill introduced by Axne in January, the Veteran Student Work Study Modernization Act, passed the House 370-43 on Tuesday. The bill is intended to help part-time student veterans earn certifications or a degree without taking on excessive debt.

“I am thrilled that my legislation passed the House with broad bipartisan support, as our veterans received their benefits while serving,” Axne said in a press release. “We don’t need to put limits on the education of veterans when they have families to support or mortgages to pay.

Iowa Republicans sponsor awards for responsible farming practices

The House Agriculture Committee unanimously passed a bill sponsored by Hinson to create a conservation loan program to adopt environmentally friendly farming practices and technologies. The PRECISE Act (Producing Responsible Energy and Conservation Incentives and Solutions for the Environment) was co-sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra and Miller-Meeks.

“This legislation will make it easier for Iowa farmers to access precision farming technology through USDA programs they already know and trust,” Hinson said.

Grassley introduces bill to improve public safety

Grassley joined Democratic Georgia Sen. John Ossoff in introducing legislation to create training for law enforcement officials and first responders called in to deal with mental health cases. The Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act builds on an existing mental health program for people who come into contact with the justice system.

DC Dispatch: Iowa lawmakers disagree on how to address infant formula shortage

Broker confidence in New York fell for a third consecutive quarter but remained in positive territory, according to the latest survey from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY).

But the drop was largely due to the outlook for brokers in the residential market: the current confidence index for the sector fell from 50.63 to 31.41 in the first quarter, while the current confidence index for businesses was essentially stable.

Contrary to the latest reports, however, COVID-19 was not solely responsible for the decline in confidence. Residential brokers suggest that the residential market may moderate on the back of rising interest rates and mortgage rates; the latter metric hit 5% for 30-year mortgages in March, a record high since the fall of 2018.

On the trading front, brokers have expressed concern about a delayed return to work as well as quality of life issues, despite large employers recently signing up and executing first-quarter return-to-work plans. . Office occupancy in New York was 37% in mid-April, according to Kastle Systems, compared to 22% at the end of January. However, this figure still lags behind the average occupancy among the 10 largest metropolitan areas monitored by Kastle.

Six-month expectations were even gloomier, down 17% for commercial brokers and 20% among residential professionals, but the overall outlook was still better than at the start of the pandemic, when commercial and residential indices of REBNY were -33.74 and -64.32, respectively. .

Some factors suggest a positive trend for New York, including a narrowing of the gap between subway and bus ridership and ridership on the LIRR and Subway North and a doubling of gross ticket sales for Broadway shows between the last week of January and mid-April. Restaurant occupancy has improved from 70% below pre-pandemic levels in January to around 40% below new pandemic levels now.

Brokers say critical issues that need to be addressed to sustain progress this year include tackling quality of life issues such as crime, transit safety and sanitation management, local incentives supporting companies and the control of inflation.

“The major challenges facing the brokerage community have thankfully moved away from unprecedented public health concerns,” Keith DeCoster, REBNY Marketa’s chief data and policy officer, said in a statement.. “Economic momentum and broker confidence should remain in positive territory, particularly if policymakers continue to prioritize quality of life issues and empower homeowners and businesses to invest more in New York City. “

A “more consistent and sustained” returning to the office will also be necessary to boost the minds of trading brokers, according to the survey, but despite this, the demand for Class A assets and trophies with updated equipment remains high.

“Although the New York office market is experiencing significant headwinds, including a historically high availability rate, and many workers are still hesitant to return to the office, there is undeniably very strong occupant demand for space in the best office properties in premium locations,” said Bill Montana of Savills.

* Moving on, the article I wrote about criminals (October 2021) plying their trade in the housing industry has been widely read. And the scammers keep giving. Here are some of their latest gambits:

A former Miami realtor, formerly of Century 21, has been charged with the murder of two homeless people last fall and the attempted murder of a third in December. He was filmed at several stages of the murders, including shooting one man and then another. He was driving a car registered in his name. “We literally followed in the suspect’s footsteps,” Deputy Police Chief Armando Aguilar told the Miami Herald…

Tamara Dadyan, a Los Angeles real estate broker, was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to her role in the Payment Protection Program fraud, the small business relief program, to the tune of nearly of $20 million. Dadyan and his compatriots used dozens of fake or stolen identities to apply for loans, including those of elderly or deceased people. And they used the proceeds to buy luxury homes, designer handbags, clothes, and even a Harley. Now, as she sits behind bars, she awaits trial for state mortgage fraud…

A disbarred Massachusetts attorney and his wife have pleaded guilty to running several mortgage fraud schemes. In a ruse, Barry Wayne Plunkett Jr. and his wife, Nancy, both of Barnstable, defrauded six lenders and 14 refinance homeowners and kept $900,000 for their own purposes. They also used various names, entities and false documents to obtain three successive mortgages on their own house in Hyannis Port for amounts of $412,000, $470,000 and $1.2 million…

Pastor Brandon Huber, a part-time agent at Windermere Real Estate in Missoula, Montana, withdrew his congregation’s support for the local food aid program because it was promoting LGBTQ+ pride and rights week. Someone filed an ethics complaint with the Missoula Organization of Realtors, alleging a violation of the Nation Association of Realtors’ Code of Ethics. And Huber sued MOR right away.

It’s not a crime in itself, but the pastor’s attorney said: “The real estate agent hate speech rule is meant to purge Christians from the real estate industry. If you’re a Christian who believes like tens of millions of American Christians, that homosexuality is wrong, there’s simply no way you can participate as a real estate agent, with the kind of ban on hate speech that exists.

This guy should move to Florida…

Maybe he had nothing else to do. John MacMillan Cameron, a broker from Port Orchard, Washington, whose license is currently inactive, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges related to the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. It appears that he posted this message on his site to believers: “The least safe I felt was when I was coming back to catch a train…I was told FU by a little antifa BLMer on a Vespa going in the opposite direction…”

Thank you Zillow for helping build a case against former Green Beret and former Florida congressional candidate Jeremy Brown for attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Brown had previously been on the FBI’s radar as a potential leader of the Oath Keepers. But to prove their case, authorities focused on listing his Tampa residence on the popular search engine. A listing photo showed a whiteboard listing all sorts of listings allegedly related to the riot.

FBI agents raided the house, where they discovered a short-barreled shotgun, a sawed-off shotgun, over 8,000 rounds of ammunition and two hand grenades…

* I warned of inflation, the mortgage market’s equivalent of a four-letter word, last July. As an economist, which I am certainly not, I could have been right or wrong. Turns out I was the latter.

In mid-March, the Federal Reserve Board made the first of what are expected to be many increases of a quarter point or more this year in the federal funds rate. With inflation nearing 8% at the time of this writing, Mortgage Bankers Association Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni said of the widely expected initial 25 basis point increase: “It’s what the Fed needs to do to control inflation. ”

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in prepared remarks to the National Association for Business Economics that “inflation is way too high.” And for what it’s worth, the central bank doesn’t expect inflation to drop below 2% until “after 2024” at the earliest…

* When I last looked at the Latino market (June 2021), I reported that most of Hispanics’ wealth came from real estate. Now, the latest State of Hispanic Homeownership report, released in early March, shows Latinos added 657,000 homeowner households between 2019 and 2021, bringing their homeownership rate to 48.4%.

This is still on the low side compared to other demographics. Worse still, it only accounted for 20.6% of total ownership growth over the two-year period.

At the same time, however, “significantly” more Hispanics are looking to buy their first home than the population as a whole, according to a survey by Realtor.com in conjunction with the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. NAHREP also produces the State of Hispanic Home Ownership report.

* Last month’s article focused on the influx of institutional investors into the housing market. I’ve since found these stats buried in an ATTOM Data report: Institutional investors nationwide accounted for 6.9%, or one in 14 single-family home and condo sales in 2021, the highest level since 2013.

Meanwhile, there is an upward trend among investors to build as well as buy homes for rent. According to the National Rental Home Council, homes purposely built for rental rather than sale accounted for 26% of properties added to investors’ portfolios in the fourth quarter. This represents an increase from just 3% in the third quarter of 2019. At the same time, purchases of existing single-family homes by investors fell from 81% to 57% over the same two-year period.

“Providers have increasingly turned to new housing development over the past two years as a way to respond to housing market supply constraints and a corresponding increase in demand for single-family rental housing,” the trade group said in a press release…

* A Naples, Florida property management company sued for embezzlement by several of its homeowners’ association clients could also come into Uncle Sam’s crosshairs for taking nearly a quarter of a million dollars in federal COVID relief funds. When American Property Management Services requested PPP money, the request required certification that it was not “engaged in any activity unlawful under federal, state, or local law.” According to some legal beagles, the feds can sue, even if the company wasn’t involved in criminal activity when it applied for a PPP loan…

That’s all for the moment. My basket is full.

Outgoing Department One Justice of the Peace Alex Beal appeared on KGVO Talk Back on Thursday to answer questions from listeners about his re-election bid for a second four-year term.

Beal discussed the tumultuous state of the justice system when he was elected four years ago and his efforts to “right the ship” with fellow justice of the peace Landee Holloway.

“The first month we were there, we got to all the staff together,” Judge Beal began. “We have a new Independent Trustee who is in charge of personnel and this is something we have been working on with the County Commissioners Office. Judges should be in charge of the courtroom and responsible for making decisions about things. No one elects us to be a group of managers.

Beal acknowledged that Justice Court is often the first experience a member of the public has with the criminal justice system.

“I try to treat the court professionally,” he said. “We handle it cleanly, but in a friendly way and it can be a scary process. I want you in and it doesn’t have to be scarier than that. We will walk you through the process. I’ll let you know what your options are, and we’ll go from there. There are consequences for people’s actions. These consequences are addressed. We issue sentences, fines, jail time, whatever is appropriate in the circumstances, but I try to explain to people, “this is why we are doing this.”

He explained what the Court of Justice can and cannot do in the criminal justice system.

“I think it’s important to understand what the Court of Justice does and doesn’t do,” he said. “And so we’re not doing the whole thing on a crime. People who are on their 13th DUI the only time we’re going to see it is if they’ve been arrested and that first hearing and what kind of bail should there be and then the rest but as and as this case progresses, like jail, it’s all up to the district court. We don’t care about that. »

Beal said criminal cases tend to get attention, but that’s only a small fraction of what happens in court every day.

“We’ve talked a lot today about violent crime, criminal crime, things like that, but that’s about half a percent of what we do on a daily basis,” he said. “The remaining 49.5% are misdemeanors. 50% is civilian stuff. No one thinks of us in terms of civilians (cases) but half of our work is about people being prosecuted. People getting kicked out, all those little things and just being able to provide a fair and reasonable experience for people to come and settle their differences, and that makes me happy.

Beal is opposed in the primary by Bill Burt and Daniel Kaneff, both of whom have extensive military and police experience.

Following through on its promise of aggressive action to contain record US inflation, the Federal Reserve raised its key rate by 0.5% on Wednesday, the biggest gradual jump in 22 years.

US inflation hit a 12-month rate of 8.5% in March, according to the latest report from the US Department of Labor.

While the 8.5% inflation rate is the overall US average, Utah and other Mountain West states including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada , New Mexico and Wyoming, recorded an annual increase in inflation to 10.4% in March.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the rate hike, which is expected to be followed by further upward adjustments of 0.5% in the coming months, has a “good chance” of slowing rate hikes. inflation-induced consumer prices that are currently at 40-year highs.

“We need to do everything we can to restore stable prices as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Powell said at a press conference on Wednesday, according to CNBC. “We think we have a good chance of doing that without a significant increase in unemployment or a really sharp downturn.”

But, Powell also acknowledged that the Fed’s monetary toolkit is imprecise at best and that the hoped-for outcome of controlling inflation is by no means guaranteed.

“We don’t have precision surgical tools. We basically have interest rates, balance sheet and forward guidance and those are… notoriously blunt tools,” Powell said at the press conference.

“Nobody thinks it will be easy. No one thinks it’s simple. But there is certainly a plausible path to that,” he added.

Here’s how rising rates could impact the average US consumer:

I am considering buying a house. Will mortgage rates continue to rise?

Home loan rates have skyrocketed over the past few months, mostly in anticipation of the Fed’s actions, and will likely continue to rise. On Wednesday, Freddie Mac announced that the average interest on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.27%, the highest in more than a decade.

“Mortgage rates resumed their ascent this week as the 30-year fixed rate hit its highest level since 2009,” Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a press release. “While housing affordability and inflationary pressures pose challenges to potential buyers, house price growth will continue but is expected to slow in the coming months.”

Mortgage rates don’t necessarily go up at the same time as Fed rate hikes. Sometimes they even move in the opposite direction. Long-term mortgages tend to follow the yield of the 10-year treasury bill, which, in turn, is influenced by various factors. These include investor expectations for future inflation and global demand for US Treasuries.

For now, however, accelerating inflation and strong US economic growth are pushing the 10-year Treasury rate up sharply. As a result, mortgage rates have jumped more than 2 percentage points since the start of the year.

How will this affect the housing market?

If you’re looking to buy a home and you’re frustrated with the lack of available homes, which has sparked bidding wars and exorbitant prices, that’s unlikely to change any time soon.

Economists say higher mortgage rates will discourage some potential buyers. And average home prices, which have been climbing at an annual rate of about 20%, could at least rise at a slower rate.

Soaring mortgage rates “will temper the pace of home price appreciation as the price of potential buyers rises,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate.

Yet the number of available homes remains historically low, a trend that will likely frustrate buyers and keep prices high.

What about car loans?

Fed rate hikes can make car loans more expensive. But other factors also affect these rates, including competition between car manufacturers which can sometimes reduce borrowing costs.

Rates for buyers with lower credit scores are the most likely to rise following Fed hikes, said Alex Yurchenko, chief data officer for Black Book, which monitors vehicle prices in the United States. Since the prices of used vehicles increase on average, the monthly payments will also increase.

Right now, new vehicle loans are averaging around 4.5%. Used vehicle rates are around 5%.

What about other prices?

For users of credit cards, home equity lines of credit and other variable-interest debt, rates would rise by roughly the same amount as the Fed hike, typically within one or two billing cycles. That’s because those rates are based in part on the banks’ prime rate, which moves in tandem with the Fed.

Those who don’t qualify for low-rate credit cards may end up paying higher interest on their balance. The rates on their cards would increase as the prime rate does.

If the Fed decides to raise rates by 2 percentage points or more over the next two years – a distinct possibility – it would significantly increase interest payments.

Will I be able to earn more on my savings?

Probably, although unlikely. And it depends on where your savings, if you have any, are parked.

Savings, certificates of deposit and money market accounts generally do not follow Fed changes. Instead, banks tend to take advantage of a higher rate environment to try and boost their profits. They do this by charging higher rates to borrowers, without necessarily offering higher rates to savers.

Contributor: Associated press

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked for feedback on how best to crack down on what it calls “unwanted charges.” Our Financial Services and Products group examines how mortgage services are distinguished and why mortgage servicers should be aware that their fees will be closely monitored.

• Republican attorneys general urge greater federal-state cooperation
• Democratic attorneys general want to add convenience fees to list
• Takeaway: Now is the time for service agents to review their fee structures

On January 26, 2022, Rohit Chopra, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public comment on the fees which “are not subject to competitive processes ensuring fair pricing”. The director said when consumers don’t select their provider, as in loan servicing, “it can lead to stagnation, unwanted fees and poor treatment.” Chopra also said the CFPB would launch other initiatives to identify ways to lower barriers to entry and increase the pool of companies competing for customers based on quality, price and service. .

By the close of the comment period on April 11, the CFPB had received thousands of responses. While the broad RFI extends to providers of consumer financial products and services, the mortgage service is isolated and should alert mortgage servicers that their fees will be closely monitored. In fact, Chopra indicated in a blog post that the CFPB will use this information to review existing rules and to develop new ones “to stimulate competition and transparency” and to identify “illegal practices through… . supervision and enforcement”.

The CFPB has sought comment on what the CFPB pejoratively calls “junk fees” and “operating, back-end and excessive fees”. Examples of such mortgage service charges cited by the CFPB include late fees, insufficient funds (NSF) fees, payment processing convenience fees, and delinquency-related fees such as monthly fees. property inspection, new title fees, legal fees, appraisal and appraisal fees. , broker price opinion fees, forced insurance, foreclosure fees and corporate advances. Comments received by the CFPB include those from attorneys general (AGs) in both Republican and Democratic-leaning jurisdictions.

Republican AGs: How about federal-state cooperation?

To date, GAs in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, ‘Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Texas and West Virginia have all called for the CFPB to drop its plan to regulate fees and instead , to coordinate and cooperate with states to determine where federal action is “duplicated or unwarranted.” Republican AGs argue that the CFPB is trying to establish itself as the primary regulator in the consumer financial products pay-for-services space and, therefore, infringing on states’ right to regulate business practices within their borders. . These AGs argue that the CFPB’s RFI on “Undesirable Charges – Exploitative, Indirect, Hidden or Excessive” suggests that the CFPB is “predisposed to create a subjective standard for identifying problematic charges”.

And these AG Republicans argue that the CFPB fails to recognize that state laws already regulate many such fees in consumer financial products and that federal regulation would be duplicative. According to AG Republicans, states are better able to assess the needs of their citizens as well as the impact of royalties on state markets. They point to the fact that states specifically allow many types of fees, such as late fees, NSF fees, filing fees, administrative fees, amendment and deferral fees, and title fees. They also note that states are prepared to enforce their laws if a consumer financial services provider fails to comply with or take action under the state’s Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (UDAP) provisions when a consumer is misled. AG Republicans also expressed concern that the CFPB would seek to use its UDAAP authority to regulate fees and questioned the use of that authority for fees that are “disclosed pursuant to state law. or federal, in some cases permitted by state law, and agreed to by a consumer in writing.

This is a dominance concern – Republican AGs are concerned that the CFPB sees itself as the primary regulator and intends to limit states’ power to regulate fees. Of course, the CFPB’s retort may simply be that it fixes the ground and states are free to go further. The real question is where the CFPB draws the line – and if that line goes further than some states have, will that raise preemption concerns.

Democrat AGs: Go get them, Director Chopra!

The AG Democrats praise the CFPB’s RFI and call for comment and limit their comments to one issue: convenience fees charged by mortgage services. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania GAs , Rhode Island and Washington, along with the Hawaii Consumer Protection Bureau, consider convenience fees (along with overdrafts and NSFs) to be “harmful unwanted fees” and urge the CFPB to prohibit managers from mortgages to impose a convenience fee or, alternatively, to restrict mortgage lending services from charging a convenience fee that exceeds the documented actual cost of the service.

It’s ironic: not too long ago, many of these same blue states allowed convenience fees with restrictions in a multi-state settlement agreement with a large loan servicer.

Now the AG Democrats argue that because lenders are supposed to earn their profit for mortgage servicing through the interest rate and other fees originally, managers have already been compensated for the costs of accepting mortgages. payments (a core function of managers) and therefore are compensated twice for accepting payments. The CFPB should recognize that this argument reflects a fundamental misapplication of basic service business practices.

In fact, the CFPB recognized fee structures for servicing activities in its 2013 Mortgage Servicing Rules. loan owners usually negotiate prices with the manager, usually a monthly management fee. Repairers also receive ancillary fees, late fees and, as the CFPB acknowledged in 2013, “telephone payment processing fees”. It should be noted that the CFPB did not prohibit convenience fees in its 2013 Mortgage Servicing Rules. The CFPB also declined to address convenience fees in its recently enacted Bylaw F, although this issue has been raised during the CFPB’s Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act review process.

Mortgage managers will argue that borrowers enter into a contract, in the form of a promissory note, and agree to repay the borrowed money in monthly installments. The borrower also agrees to pay late fees if their payments are not received by the end of the grace period, usually 15 days after the contractual due date. Typical mortgage agreements don’t require managers to offer expedited payment options, such as online and phone payments, for borrowers waiting until the last day to make their payment.

Nevertheless, many mortgage servicers choose to make these payment options available to borrowers, even if these accelerated options come at a cost to the servicer. For example, expedited options often require the use of third-party payment processing providers such as Western Union, and among other costs, the mortgage servicer typically must hire and train customer service agents to receive payments over the phone and hire computer programmers to build and maintain the systems necessary to accept payments online or through interactive voice response telephone technology. It should also be noted that managers do not assess convenience fees without the knowledge and consent of borrowers. Rather, the fact and amount of the convenience fee is disclosed to borrowers at that time, before borrowers choose to continue with that payment method.

The GA Democrats argue that “like refinancing, this so-called choice is actually delusional for many borrowers,” noting that “convenience fees actually work like alternative late fees — maybe cheaper, but with a delay.” shorter grace period, and in breach of contract the terms of most mortgages which outline the exact amount and timing of late fees, so rationally the consumer chooses the cheapest option and accepts the convenience fee But the simple fact of choosing the least bad option does not mean that the consumer really has a choice Does the borrower have no choice to make his payment on time, or at least contractually agreed grace period?Borrowers who choose a modest, fully disclosed convenience fee leave themselves much better off financially than incurring considerably more expensive late fees (not to mention avoiding ra negative credit reports, which can negatively impact the consumer even more broadly).

Penalizing mortgage servicers by eliminating their ability to charge clearly disclosed and agreed fees for services – those they are not required to provide – will, at a minimum, reduce their incentive to offer such options, limit the choice of consumers and discourage future service innovation. for the benefit of borrowers.

Take away food

In 2013, the CFPB recognized that repairers are not really subject to market discipline from consumers, as consumers have little opportunity to change repairers. The CFPB acknowledged, however, that “service agents compete for contracts with loan owners (investors, assignees and creditors) and that, therefore, competitive pressures tend to cause service agents to lower the price of services and to adjust their investments in the provision of services to consumers accordingly”. .” Chopra seems to challenge this premise. While service portability is something to consider in the future, now is the time for services to take a close look at the fees charged to consumers to ensure these fees are legally permitted and properly disclosed.

Download the PDF of the notice

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NEW YORK (AP) — A late wave of buying left major indexes higher on Wall Street after another day of trading up and down. A rebound in tech stocks helped turn the tide in the final hour of trading on Monday. The S&P 500 closed 0.6% higher and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.3%. Dow Jones industrials rose 0.7%. The S&P 500 is coming off a three-week losing streak amid concerns about high inflation and the rapid increase in interest rates the Federal Reserve is likely to prescribe for it. Bond prices have risen. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.83%.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks on Wall Street erased their steep morning losses and are holding relatively steady on Monday, the latest in a string of upside trades.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged, as of 2:46 p.m. EST, coming back from an early loss of 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 94 points, or 0.3%, to 33,905 after erasing an earlier loss of 488 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8%.

Stocks have been fragile recently, with the S&P 500 emerging from a three-week losing streak, amid concerns about high inflation and the rapid hike in interest rates the Federal Reserve is likely to prescribe. Strong earnings reports for the first three months of the year from major US corporations had offered some support, but even that looked less robust after several mixed forecasts last week.

Investors are now in the middle of one of the most important periods of earnings season. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and the parents of Facebook and Google are all on deck to report this week. And because they are among the largest companies by market value, their movements have the most influence on the S&P 500.

Earlier in the morning, US stocks were on course to follow global markets lower, particularly in China, on fears that strict lockdown measures there could jeopardize the world’s second largest economy and potentially damage the global economic growth. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 3.7%. The Shanghai Composite fell 5.1%.

China’s capital, Beijing, began mass testing of more than 3 million people on Monday and restricted residents of part of the city to their compounds, raising concerns about a broader lockdown similar to Shanghai. This city has been closed for more than two weeks and this has already prompted the International Monetary Fund to revise downwards its growth forecasts for the Chinese economy.

Prices for ultra-safe US government bonds rose as traders feared the risk. The 10-year Treasury yield, which affects rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, fell to 2.82% from 2.90% on Friday evening.

Energy companies were among the biggest losers as US crude oil prices fell 2.9%. Exxon Mobil fell 3.4%.

Banking and industrial stocks also fell. Bank of America fell 1.1% and Lockheed Martin 1%.

Communication actions were in the lead. Twitter jumped 6% after the social media company agreed to be taken private by Tesla CEO Elon Musk for $54.20 a share, or about $44 billion.

Rising inflation remains a major concern for investors. Investors continue to focus on the measures taken by central banks to contain it. The Federal Reserve Chairman indicated that the central bank may raise short-term interest rates to double the usual amount at upcoming meetings, starting next week. The Fed has already raised its overnight rate once, the first such hike since 2018.

Wall Street will also receive key economic data this week. The Conference Board will release its consumer confidence measure for April on Tuesday. The Commerce Department will release its first-quarter gross domestic product report on Thursday.

It’s also a busy week for US corporate earnings reports. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and General Motors will release their results on Tuesday, along with Microsoft and Visa. Boeing, Ford and Facebook parent Meta are on deck to report results on Wednesday. McDonald’s, Amazon and Apple report Thursday.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

NOVI, Michigan, April 21, 2022 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Vice Capital Markets, a leading mortgage advisory firm for independent lenders, banks and credit unions, today announced that it has promoted Shawn Ansley as Chief Information Officer (CIO). As CIO, Ansley will be responsible for the continued development of information technology and deepening integrations with agencies and major lending systems and leading the development of new tools to improve the customer experience. .

“Since joining our firm, Shawn has tirelessly pushed Vice Capital to continuously evolve and stay current with ever-changing market and execution environments. This promotion is really more of a formal recognition of leadership and guidance exaggerations that he had already shown in the past few years,” said Chris Bennett, founder and director of Vice Capital.

Joining Vice Capital in 2005 after earning his master’s degree in mathematics, Ansley rose through the ranks at Vice Capital, most recently serving as a managing director. He leads the quantitative analytics that underpins the firm’s hedging advisory services and is credited with revolutionizing the attraction of Vice Capital through modeling for more accurate pipeline management.

Ansley is also responsible for automating many of Vice Capital’s day-to-day processes to improve operational efficiency and eliminate opportunities for human error, including overseeing several LOS integrations to allow information to flow between Vice Capital and customers transparently. Ansley has also developed proprietary APIs with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to facilitate direct data pricing requests and loan commitments with GSEs, dramatically speeding up this critical process.

“Having had the privilege of working with Chris, Troy and the team at Vice Capital for over 15 years, this promotion is truly an honor,” said Ansley. “I look forward to leading the next phase of our software development initiatives, which will help to further enhance the client experience while significantly enhancing the value, advice and services that Vice Capital offers to the market.”

Founded in 2001, Vice Capital serves independent mortgage lenders and financial institutions of all sizes, with monthly mortgage production volumes ranging from $10 million to $5 billion per month. Last year, the company set a new record for internal trade volume, transacting more than $202 billion on behalf of its full-service clients, and experienced a marked increase in its customer base, including growth of more than 50% in the credit union space. Today, one in 15 mortgages issued in the United States is negotiated by Vice Capital or covered using its proprietary software.

About Vice Capital Markets

Since 2001, Vice Capital Markets has successfully managed interest rate risk and maximized profitability in MBS transactions and mortgage-related transactions for banks, credit unions and mortgage lenders of all sizes. With an average of over 10 years of experience behind each of the traders on our team, Vice Capital has helped clients achieve, on average, a 25 to 55 basis point improvement over their best execution, and patterns Vice Capital’s proprietary risk management capabilities and complex investor and agency best execution platform have consistently generated safe and efficient profit maximization for its clients. To learn more, visit https://www.vicecapitalmarkets.com/ or call (248) 869-8100.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Vice Capital Markets

This press release has been issued on behalf of the source of the information (Vice Capital Markets) who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press® Newswire. The information is believed to be accurate but not guaranteed. Story ID: 81040 APDF-R8.5

© 2022 Send2Press®, a press release and electronic marketing service of NEOTROPE®, California, USA.

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Disclaimer: The content of this press release was not created by The Associated Press (AP).

Copyright 2022 Send2Press Newswire

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks overcame a weak start and ended broadly higher on Tuesday, giving Wall Street’s major indexes their best day in nearly five weeks.

The S&P 500 rose 1.6%, enough to recoup nearly all of its losses from last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.5% and the Nasdaq 2.2%.

The last time the indices mounted a larger rally was on March 16. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq entered this week with two consecutive weekly losses, while the Dow Jones fell three weeks in a row.

Equities have mostly struggled this year amid uncertainty about how the US economy and businesses will be affected as the Federal Reserve decides to reverse low interest rate policies that have helped markets to soar in recent years.

“We’re just picking up a bit of a rebound after a tough few weeks,” said Bill Northey, chief investment officer at US Bank Wealth Management.

The S&P 500 rose 70.52 points to 4,462.21. The Dow Jones recovered from a 17-point slump and climbed 499.51 points to 34,911.20. The Nasdaq gained 287.30 points to 13,619.66.

Nearly 90% of stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 index rose. Tech stocks helped propel the broad gains. The expensive valuations of many of the biggest tech companies give them more leverage to steer the broader market up or down. Microsoft rose 1.7%.

Retailers and healthcare companies also helped lift the market. Amazon rose 3.5%. Johnson & Johnson rose 3.1% after reporting surprisingly strong earnings while increasing its dividend.

Banks have gained ground alongside rising Treasury yields, allowing them to charge higher interest rates on loans. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.94% from 2.85% on Monday evening. Bank of America rose 1.9%.

Shares of small companies outperformed the broader market, a sign of confidence in economic growth. The Russell 2000 rose 40.63 points, or 2%, to 2,030.77.

Energy values ​​were the only laggard. US crude oil prices fell 5.2% and natural gas prices fell 8.2%.

Wall Street is shifting its focus to the latest round of corporate bulletins as more big companies report their earnings. Signature Bank jumped 8.1% after beating analysts’ expectations.

Dental products maker Dentsply Sirona fell 13.4% after laying off its CEO without giving a reason, while posting current-quarter profit forecasts well below analysts’ estimates.

Netflix fell 25% in after-hours trading after the video streaming giant reported its first loss of subscribers globally in more than a decade. Netflix said it was preparing for things to get even worse with an expected loss of another 2 million subscribers in the April-June period. As of Tuesday’s close, Netflix had already lost half of its value since hitting an all-time high last November.

Railroad giant CSX will report results on Wednesday, along with Tesla. American Airlines and Union Pacific will release their results on Thursday.

The latest round of earnings comes as investors try to gauge how businesses and consumers are coping with rising inflation that has made everything from food to clothes and gasoline more expensive.

The conflict in Ukraine has added to these price pressures. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday downgraded the outlook for the world economy this year and next, blaming Russia’s war in Ukraine for disrupting world trade, pushing up oil prices, threatening food supplies and to increase the uncertainty already heightened by the coronavirus and its variants.

Rising prices prompted the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates to lessen the impact of inflation. The Fed has already announced a quarter percentage point rate hike and Wall Street expects a half percent rate hike at its next meeting. Currently, investors expect rate hikes to push the benchmark interest rate into a range between 2.5% and 2.75% by the end of the year, according to the tool. FedWatch by CME Group.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly they increase rates from meeting to meeting,” said Shawn Cruz, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade. “How we come to the end of the year will have a lingering effect on market uncertainty and continued volatility.”

Bond yields rose as Wall Street braces for higher interest rates. The 10-year Treasury yield is the highest since the end of 2018. Rising yields have also added pressure to an already tight housing market, with mortgage rates rising and making borrowing more expensive. Wall Street will get more details on that impact when the National Association of Realtors releases its March home sales report on Wednesday.

———

Veiga reported from Los Angeles.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Great Falls will welcome 10 new owners through the NeighborWorks Great Falls Owner Built Homes program. U.S. Senator Jon Tester attended an event Friday at one of the newly built homes touting the program’s success and discussed the ongoing housing crisis both in the city and across the state.

“I have to be honest with you when I walked into the house, I thought, you know, just another house,” Tester said at the top of his remarks. “But that’s not it, just look around you. It’s damn nice.

Cascade County is expected to need 450 new homes per year over the next 10 years, about 190 rental units and 250 owner units, according to the Great Falls Development Authority’s housing study earlier this year.

Tester explained that 70 percent of Great Falls’ housing stock was built before the 1980s: “And that’s higher than any other market in Montana. »

“It’s just too difficult for too many families to find quality, affordable housing without literally breaking the bank,” Tester said.

How the program works

NeighborWorks Great Falls executive director Sherrie Arey explained that qualified applicants receive a “502 loan” from the US Department of Agriculture to build their home, which later turns into their mortgage. Then people commit to putting in 30 hours a week of “sweat equity” to build their own homes.

“The way it makes it affordable is that they build,” she said. “So they would need another 20 in that case, maybe $30,000 in loans that they can’t afford.”

Brenda Kukay of NeighborWorks estimated that mortgages range from $900 to just over $1,000 a month, which she says families are likely already paying rent. She said that before the program, some people rented or lived with their families.

Arey said construction is being supervised by professionals and local contractors are helping train people when construction is complete. She said the program usually takes 12 to 14 months, but COVID-19 has complicated their timeline, so for this group it was closer to 18 months.

Arey said Kukay works with families to ensure they are ready to commit to the project. Arey said people typically work one night a week and all day on Saturdays to make all hours work with their schedule.

Affordability in Great Falls, Tester comments on state’s slow distribution of emergency rental assistance

Arey said Great Falls still has the ability to be affordable.

“A lot of other cities have lost that,” Arey said. “We have it.”

She said she is grateful to the partners at the local and federal levels who help fund these projects.

Tester spoke about federal programs that help keep people housed, including the Emergency Rental Assistance Program through the American Rescue Plan Act, but commented on how the state has handled the funds.

“I think the state has been slow to provide these resources to families in Montana,” Tester said. “I hope that will change because we can’t play politics when it comes to keeping people at home.”

The state has distributed nearly $47 million of their over $350 million allocation, with the Helena Independent Record reporting in March that the US Treasury Department would reallocate $53 million of the total funds to other states, as Montana State failed to oblige at least 64% of the first round.

When asked, Tester agreed that people earning minimum wage would struggle to pay rent and said that’s where housing assistance can be used. The average overall rent costs more than $900, according to the GFDA study.

“Trying to find ways to get more rental units on the market as a bargain, some of these older buildings, maybe they can be rehabilitated,” he said. “I don’t think the state of Montana wants to get into the rental business, but there are things you can do to make interest-bearing loans more affordable to allow the private sector to do that.”

Tester said he’d like to see ARPA funds spent on housing and workforce training, though he said it’s ultimately up to local municipalities to decide where. go the funds.

New owners

It was quite a housewarming party for new neighbors Cameron Weninger and Ed Dustrude on Friday morning. The two new owners should receive the keys to the houses they have built in the coming weeks.

Cameron Weninger, 24, a first-time homeowner who works at Johnson Madison Lumbar Company, said he was grateful for the program, adding that otherwise it would have been difficult to get a home in this market. The tester said it would still be difficult and recommended Weninger look at his books.

The senator commented that in 1967 a house in this neighborhood cost $12,000. Tester earned his undergraduate degree in music in this district at the College of Great Falls, now the University of Providence.

Weninger said before the program that he lived with his family to save money.

Ed Dustrude, a 58-year veteran of Operation Desert Storm, is about to move into a three-bed, two-bathroom just next door to Weninger.

“When they say blood, sweat and tears, they’re not kidding,” Dustrude said of the building process. He praised the young people in the group who did most of the climbing and roofing work.

He said he had furniture from his apartment and storage furniture that he would be moving in the coming weeks.

Both were grateful for lower interest rates on their loans, one of the few silver linings to work on this during the pandemic, they said. However, they said almost everyone contracted COVID-19 at some point during construction and it caused several delays.

Dustrude said he bonded with Weninger over a shared love of hunting, and their new neighborhood would bond after that shared experience.

“When it comes to housing, the bottom line is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, no silver bullet,” Tester said during his remarks. “The big takeaway here is that we need to take the whole approach above, all on deck, to make sure we’re supporting the Montana family’s ability to keep a roof over their heads.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed lower on Wall Street on Thursday as investors gave mixed views on earnings at four of the nation’s biggest banks.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2%, ending a shortened trading week with a 2.1% drop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite lost 2.1%. Both indexes also ended in the red for the week.

A quartet of big banks reported notable declines in first-quarter earnings as the latest earnings season kicks off. Market volatility and the war in Ukraine caused transactions to dry up, while a slowdown in the housing market led to fewer people looking for mortgages.

Citigroup rose 1.6% while Wells Fargo fell 4.5%. Morgan Stanley rose 0.7% and Goldman Sachs slipped 0.1%.

Bond yields rose again, pushing the 10-year Treasury yield to 2.83%, and the price of US oil rose, ending nearly 11% higher for the week.

“With higher oil prices, higher bond yields, (this) implies that the market is still worried about inflation, about Ukraine, about the Fed’s response to all of this,” he said. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

The S&P 500 fell 54 points to 4,392.59. The Dow fell 113.36 points to 34,451.23. The Nasdaq fell 292.51 points to 13,351.08. The US stock market will be closed for Good Friday.

Tech stocks led the way lower on Thursday, reversing gains elsewhere in the market. The expensive valuations of many of the biggest tech companies give them more leverage to steer the broader market up or down. Microsoft fell 2.7%.

Retailers and other businesses that rely on consumer spending also weighed on the market. Amazon fell 2.5%. Energy stocks rose along with the price of crude oil. Exxon Mobil rose 1.2%.

Small company stocks also lost ground. The Russell 2000 fell 20.12 points, or 1%, to 2,004.98.

Investors once again turned their attention to the drama surrounding Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk and Twitter. Musk offered to buy the social media company for $54.20 per share, two weeks after revealing he had accrued a 9% stake.

Musk has criticized Twitter for failing to uphold free speech principles and said in a regulatory filing that it should be turned into a private company. Twitter’s stock fell 1.7% to $45.08, well below Musk’s offer price.

Wall Street had mixed economic data to review after several hot inflation reports earlier in the week. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.5% in March, boosted by higher gasoline prices as consumers continued to spend despite high inflation.

Inflation remains at its highest level in 40 years in the United States and that forces economists and analysts to closely monitor the reaction of consumers to the rising prices of everything from food to clothing to essence. Inflation concerns escalated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which made energy prices more volatile and contributed to rising oil and wheat prices globally.

US crude oil prices reversed an early decline on Thursday and settled up 2.6%.

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday that Russia’s war on Ukraine is weakening economic prospects for most countries in the world and reiterated the danger that high inflation poses to the global economy.

Rising prices are prompting the Federal Reserve and many other central banks to tighten monetary policy by raising interest rates, among other measures, to help calm the growing demand that is contributing to the problem.

Bond yields have mostly risen as Wall Street braces for higher interest rates.

Investors received another update on the job market recovery. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose last week, according to the Labor Department, but remained at a historic low. The data reflects a robust US labor market with near-record job openings and few layoffs.

Besides the banks, insurer UnitedHealth Group was the other big name on the profit ledger. UnitedHealth rose 0.4% after reporting strong first-quarter results and raising its 2022 guidance.

Investors are watching the latest round of corporate earnings closely to see how companies have handled rising costs and whether consumers have cut spending.

———

Veiga reported from Los Angeles.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

(The Center Square) – As inflation hit a 40-year high last year, Americans’ credit card debt also soared, according to analysis published by the personal finance website WalletHub.

In his Credit card debt study, Wallethub found that consumers racked up $87.3 billion in new debt in 2021. During the fourth quarter of 2021, debt increased by $74.1 billion, the largest increase ever reported, notes Wallethub. It was also a 63% increase above the post-Great Recession average for a fourth quarter.

At the end of 2021, the average household credit card balance was $8,590. “That’s $2,642 below WalletHub’s predicted breakout point,” the report said.

By early 2022, nearly 47% of consumer credit card spending habits had returned to pre-pandemic levels, the analysis found.

According to Wallethub quarterly report credit card inquiry33 million Americans say they will have more credit card debt by the end of 2022. However, 37% say they would do anything to be debt free, according to the report.

In his Fed rate hike report, Wallethub found that the Federal Reserve’s 0.25% interest rate hike on March 16 will cost people with credit card debt an estimated $1.6 billion in additional finance charges in 2022.

Around 88% of respondents said they were concerned about inflation; 55% said rising federal rates were bad for their personal finances, another Wallethub says survey on interest rates.

“People are struggling to make ends meet, and they know that rising rates will only increase the cost of their debt,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said in a statement accompanying the results. investigation. “Every 25 basis points the Fed raises its target rate will cost people with credit card debt about $1.6 billion a year.”

A key area where consumers can expect to pay more due to inflation and rising interest rates is the average APR of a 48-month new car loan. Wallethub expects this to rise by around 16 basis points in the months following the Fed’s recent rate hike. By comparison, he notes, the average APR on a 48-month new car loan rose from 4% in November 2015 to 5.5% in February 2019. “That’s an increase of 150 basis points over a period characterized by 225 basis points of the Fed rate. hikes,” he says.

“The average APR for credit card accounts earning finance charges is already over 16%, which is significantly higher than rates charged for secured debt like mortgages and auto loans,” Gonzalez said. “With credit card rates set to rise after the Federal Reserve takes action, people will see the cost of their credit card debt rise.”

Despite Americans’ record debt, about 25% of respondents said it was difficult to take on credit card debt during the COVID-19 shutdowns for several reasons. Federal stimulus checks have filled Americans’ bank accounts, restrictions and security concerns have led to more stays and fewer dining out, and daily travel costs have fallen to near zero, survey results show. .

However, that has changed now that some aspects of society have reopened. Americans “have accumulated new debt at increased rates lately,” Gonzalez said.

On top of the $87 billion in new debt Americans added in 2021, WalletHub estimates an increase of more than $100 billion in 2022.

To help consumers manage their credit card debt and manage their finances, Wallethub has released a advice list in line. These include creating a budget and sticking to it, building an emergency fund, and taking steps to improve credit.

During Miami NFT Week, the event that preceded Bitcoin Miami, the biggest cryptocurrency event in the world, American rapper French Montana announced that his next album will be a non-fungible token (NFT) that will be used in their own play-to-earn metaverse.

According to Radio Caca, the metaverse will be a 2D play-to-earn game integrated with the Radio Caca (RACA) metaverse platforms, specifically Metamon Worlds. The metaverse will be called 2DMMontega and is expected to release around July 2022.

Additionally, according to the artist, the album will contain 2D characters from the game.

“This is the first NFT collection that combines music, visual arts, games and the metaverse. NFTs are a big deal for artists. I finally own 100% of my music,” the rapper said.

On NFTs, Montana said he sees great potential in NFT technology in the music and other creative industries and that NFTs are a great way to confer ownership of intellectual property.

“My New Year’s resolution this year was to own everything that bears my name. I want to make sure my family benefits from everything I create, not from a record label,” he said.

According to him, NFTs also allow artists to create a deeper connection with their biggest fans, to engage more with them and to get to know them.

“I don’t want to denigrate a platform, but if you go to sites like Instagram, the connection you get there is pretty superficial. NFTs allow you to build a real community,” Montana said.

📢 Announcement: my next NEW ALBUM “Montega” NFT drop with @RadioCacaNFT @OpenPFP @EmmaRACA @JeffWatney to @MiamiNFTweek 🔥🔥

The biggest and most innovative NFT drop of all time.#French Montana #MusicNFT #RACA #NFT #NFT #Metavers #MiamiNFTWeek #Blockchain #CryptoNews pic.twitter.com/aJNPPFSCfY

— French Montana (@FrenchHMonTanA) April 1, 2022

NFTs are the next music trend

The rapper said he sees NFTs as a natural continuation of technology trends the music industry has been going through. The metaverse is not a digital world separate from the physical world but a world that people have to adapt to this revolution.

French Montana said:

“When I started, DVDs were the only game in town. Soon YouTube became a big business. After that, the same thing happened with Instagram and TikTok. “I live in the real world, say- they. The universe, not the metaverse,” say some critics. But when I talk to younger people, like my nephews, they’re much more open. You have to constantly adapt to new trends so you don’t fall behind .

According to the rapper, 10,000 physical copies will also be released along with the hand-signed CD. When it comes to the metaverse game, $25 million is invested in creating the game.

The developed NFTs will also have different functions in 2DMMontega and rewards in Metamon Island and Lost World, both produced by Radio Caca.

Following Montana’s announcement, an official Radio Caca Medium post said the Metaverse will be a move-to-win, where players are rewarded for spending 30 minutes in-game.

About 2DMMontega, Radio Caca also stated that the game will have NFTs called Kevin badges as the main token generated by the game, in addition to houses, cars and other items in the NFTs, which the developers say will be the next investment trend: collecting in the metaverse.

“In the real world, most urban youth go into debt with mortgages for homes and loans/leases for their cars. Over time, the house needs repairs and the car wears out, the tires get changed and possibly new – an endless cycle of cost and debt.In the Radio Caca universe, owning a house or car for their avatar characters will only grow in value and create a freer future as those houses and cars are assets that can be passed down from generation to generation and can increase in value, as discussed on Radio Caca’s recent post here.

Metaverse on Ethereum

The metaverse will be built on the Ethereum blockchain and will support all smart contracts running on ERC-721 and ERC-1155. According to the team, if the user has an NFT embedded in this model, it can be embedded and used as a playable item in the metaverse.

NFTs will be used to their full potential in 2DMM, representing all of your in-game assets, be it pets, 2D homes, or various tools. NFTs will even unlock a custom view to experience unique visual effects for any type of NFT.

Going into more detail about the game, the developers reveal that there will be three different stories with three game views. To interact with these resources, 1 million NFTs of 2D houses with different types of rarity between castles, mansions and villages will be sold. In them, owners can decorate their space, display NFT art, and host events.

The Kevin Badge NFT will, as a feature, be a reward for every user who deposits an NFT from a verified collection in the new 2D metaverse. Any user with a Kevin badge will have access to airdrops, private parties in the metaverse, and exclusive access to whitelists, among other benefits.

2D houses can also be earned by playing Metamon Island.

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Stocks closed lower and bond yields rose on Wall Street on Wednesday after details from last month’s meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers showed the central bank intends to be aggressive in its efforts to fight against inflation.

The S&P 500 fell 1%, adding to its losses the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% and the Nasdaq 2.2%.

Minutes from the meeting three weeks ago show that Fed policymakers agreed to start reducing the stockpile of central bank Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities by about $95 billion. dollars per month, starting in May. That’s more than some investors expected and nearly double the pace the last time the Fed shrunk its balance sheet.

At the meeting, the Fed raised its benchmark short-term rate by a quarter of a percentage point, the first increase in three years. The minutes showed that many Fed officials wanted to raise rates by an even larger margin last month, and they still saw “one or more” such oversized increases potentially coming in future meetings.

“Essentially, the Fed has concluded that a good offense is the best defense,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “We’re likely to see not only higher short-term interest rates as a result of the Fed’s actions, but also higher long-term rates, which should put pressure on potential (equity) gains. “

Higher rates tend to lower the price-to-earnings ratio of stocks, a key valuation barometer. Such a scenario can particularly hurt stocks considered to be the most expensive, including big tech companies. That explains why tech stocks were the biggest drag on the benchmark S&P 500 on Wednesday. Apple fell 1.8% and Microsoft 3.7%.

Communications companies, retailers and others that rely on direct consumer spending also weighed heavily on the index. Amazon fell 3.2% and Facebook parent company Meta fell 3.7%.

The S&P 500 ended down 43.97 points at 4,481.15. The Dow Jones slid 144.67 points to 34,496.51, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 315.35 points to 13,888.82.

Shares of smaller companies also fell, sending the Russell 2000 Index down 29.11 points, or 1.4%, to 2,016.94.

Investors focus on Fed policy as the central bank moves to reverse low interest rates and the extraordinary support it began providing the economy two years ago when the pandemic hit. plunged the economy into a recession.

The Fed’s proposed timeline for allowing billions of bonds and mortgage-backed securities to roll off its balance sheet was hinted at in remarks Tuesday by Fed Governor Lael Brainard, who said the process could start as early as May and proceed at a rapid pace.

Rapidly shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet would help drive longer-term rates higher, but would also contribute to higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.

“The reality is that we are in uncharted waters here and the Fed has a tough job unwinding the huge monetary support over the past two years,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management. “Against this backdrop, it is entirely conceivable that uncertainty over the path of monetary policy will remain entrenched in markets and that is exactly what we are seeing with the recent moves in interest rates and assets to risk.”

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.61% after the release of the minutes. It was at 2.59% earlier in the day, compared to 2.54% on Tuesday evening. The yield, which is used to set interest rates on mortgages and many other types of loans, is the highest in three years.

Traders are now pricing in a nearly 77% chance that the Fed will raise its key interest rate by half a percentage point at its next meeting in May. That’s double the usual amount and something the Fed hasn’t done since 2000.

“Even though we were aware of the upcoming rate hikes, it’s been quite challenging for long-term equity managers across the board,” said William Huston, chief investment officer at Bay Street Capital Holdings.

Inflation is at its highest level in four decades and threatens to dampen economic growth. Rising prices for everything from food to clothes have raised fears that consumers may end up cutting back on spending. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine added to these concerns, pushing energy and commodity prices, including wheat, even higher.

Benchmark crude oil prices in the United States fell 5.6% on Wednesday, but are more than 30% higher for the year. This pushed gasoline prices higher, putting more stress on shipping costs, commodity prices and consumer wallets.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned a House panel on Wednesday that the dispute would have “huge economic repercussions in Ukraine and beyond.”

The conflict in Ukraine continued to cause financial pressures against Russia. The White House has said Western governments will ban further investment in Russia following evidence that its soldiers deliberately killed civilians in Ukraine. The US Treasury has said President Vladimir Putin’s government will be prevented from paying the dollar debts of US financial institutions, potentially increasing the risk of default.

European governments have resisted calls to boycott Russian gas, Putin’s biggest source of export revenue, because of the possible impact on their economies.

Wednesday ended up being a pretty quiet day for corporate news ahead of the latest round of corporate earnings reports. JetBlue Airways fell 8.7% after it offered to buy rival airline Spirit for $3.6 billion and scrap a plan to merge Spirit with Frontier Airlines. The spirit fell 2.4%.

Thousands of cryptocurrency enthusiasts are flocking to Miami as the city builds its reputation as one of the key places to develop blockchain technology despite its underdog status.

Dozens of companies use the Bitcoin 2022 conference which runs from Wednesday to Friday as a place to network, pitch ideas, and share announcements with the industry and beyond.

New York City and Silicon Valley continued to lead in funding raised by blockchain startups in 2021, with $6.5 billion and $3.9 billion. But Miami is now tied with Los Angeles, where companies have secured more than $760 million in funding, according to market research firm CB Insights.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX bought the naming rights to the NBA arena in downtown Miami last year, replacing American Airlines. The largest crypto company to move to Miami so far, Blockchain.com, will house 200 employees in a location in trendy Wynwood, where other tech companies and investors are also moving in.

“Wynwood really has that kind of spirit that you’re looking for when a new tech industry is built,” Blockchain.com CEO and co-founder Peter Smith said, comparing it to San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood and in Brooklyn in New York. “At the end of the day, you want to be with the other tech companies.”

Many cite a welcoming environment cultivated by local officials, primarily Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who has garnered national attention for attracting tech investment and becoming one of America’s crypto-friendly mayors.

Others note that Miami and Florida are business-friendly and have remained open during the pandemic, making it more attractive as places where people can work remotely.

“It’s possible to move to a place where you can buy a house and see the sun every day,” Smith said.

All of this enthusiasm stands in stark contrast to Bitcoin’s tough year. Financially, the cryptocurrency peaked at $67,553.95 in November just before plunging nearly in half at the end of January; it remains down about 30% from that November peak. Bitcoin is also largely absent from many of the hottest crypto trends, such as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which allegedly offer a way to auction off “one-of-a-kind” copies of digital art and digital art. other cyberobjects.

More generally, critics question the assumptions underlying the claimed value and usefulness of crypto technology, with some comparing the hype and so far unfulfilled promises of blockchain technologies to a pattern of Ponzi which benefits the first participants but leaves everyone in the lurch.

As Miami aims to attract more investment for cryptocurrency projects, Bitcoin 2022 organizers say at least 75 companies will make announcements at the conference.

Last year, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele made international news at the event, revealing via video that his country would be the first to make cryptocurrency legal tender. Bukele will be at the conference this year.

One of the most anticipated announcements may come from Jack Mallers, 27, CEO of bitcoin payment app Strike, who worked with the government of Bukele on the nationwide launch of bitcoin.

Mallers has also partnered with Twitter to sync its app with the social network to allow digital money to be sent as “tips” without the need for a bank like Cash App and PayPal, demonstrating in a video how he sent $10 to a man at a Salvadoran Starbucks. .

“Why would anyone use Western Union again? When you take one of the largest social internet networks in the world, you combine it with the best open money network in the world,” he says in the posted video. on YouTube. “Western Union, pawn at E4. What is your approach?”

It remains to be seen what the effort will yield in the future. South Florida saw its population shrink by more than 18,000 people between July 2020 and July 2021. And critics fear the city lacks a top-ranking university that could create a workforce to grow businesses, as the Bay Area and New York are doing.

But Miami businessman Josip Rupena, who will speak about his crypto-mortgage startup at the conference, said he would give the effort a few years.

Rupena’s company, called Milo, has received $24 million in venture capital from investors to become a lender for people who have accumulated massive digital wealth but don’t want to convert cryptocurrency into US dollars to buy a House.

“For the first time, I think we have a platform – and a national platform – to tell others that there really are a lot of smart, capable people here. It’s great that we can amplify that message,” Rupena said.

———

Associated Press writer David Hamilton contributed to this story from San Francisco.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Kevin Costner delivered a powerful speech before presenting the Best Director award to Jane Campion at this year’s Oscars. Although his presentation was later overshadowed by Will Smith’s showdown with Chris Rock, fans are still eager to see the Hollywood legend return to the Paramount Network for another season of Yellowstone.

The film and TV star actor has revealed what made him take on the role of John Dutton in Taylor Sheridan’s hit drama Yellowstone.

The Paramount Western follows John and his family of conflicted children as they fight to protect one of the largest cattle ranches in Montana, USA.

When asked if the series changed television, Kevin admitted, “Well, I don’t know if I changed it.”

Yellowstone is one of Kevin’s only forays into small-screen drama and his first starring role in a prime-time cable series.

READ MORE: Domenica MAFS Australia: Where is Domenica Calarco now?

“You bring together a dysfunctional family in the mountains and watch them fight,” he added. “It was a fun ride.”

John’s efforts to protect the ranch are frequently sabotaged by his daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly), especially when she feuds with her adopted brother Jamie (Wes Bentley).

Meanwhile, his youngest son Kayce (Luke Grimes) has stepped back from the ranch to support his wife Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and their son Tate (Brecken Merrill) after the traumatic assault on the family.

Kevin is set to reprise his role for Season 5 of Yellowstone, which was confirmed by Paramount in February this year.

DETROIT (AP) — In the long debate over whether black Americans should receive reparations for the atrocities and injustices of slavery and racism, California took a big step this week to become the first state American to make some form of restitution a reality.

The state reparations task force has grappled with the contentious issue of which black residents should be eligible – it narrowly decided in favor of limiting compensation to descendants of free and enslaved black people who were in the United States in the 19th century.

Whether Tuesday’s vote by the task force prompts other states and cities to advance their own proposals, and whether they adopt California’s still-controversial standard on who would benefit, remains to be seen. Some veterans reparations advocates strongly disagree with proposals to limit eligibility to only black people who can prove they have enslaved ancestors, while excluding those who cannot and leaving out victims. other historical injustices, such as redlining and mass incarceration.

Still, a lawyer noted that California’s decision was a step that could give impetus to stalled redress proposals elsewhere in the United States.

“It has precipitated a debate and it will influence communities,” said Ron Daniels, president of the 21st Century Black World Institute and trustee of the National Commission for African American Reparations, an advocacy group for scholars and activists. .

As to whether others will take the same approach to eligibility, Daniels said: “That remains to be decided. … We believe that ultimately a broader definition will prevail.

The Daniels-led commission took a position that limiting reparations to descendants of slaves, or Americans whose ancestors were free blacks living during the era of slavery, ignores the effects of racism that persisted for more a century after emancipation.

“There will always be criteria” for reparations, Daniels said. “The problem is that the harms have been so severe that almost no black people are eligible in one form or another.”

Although there is still some debate among historians about exactly when the practice began, chattel slavery in what would become the United States dates back to 1619, when approximately 20 enslaved Africans were brought in Jamestown, Virginia – then a British colony. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and maintained by Rice University.

Slavery in the United States officially ended in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. Union Army General William Sherman promised freed slaves compensation in the form of land and mules to farm them – hence the phrase “40 acres and a mule” – after the victory of the North over South during the Civil War. But President Andrew Johnson withdrew the offer.

More than 120 years later, then-Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, first introduced HR 40, a bill that would create a federal commission to study reparations and make proposals. Conyers reintroduced it in every session of Congress until his resignation in 2017. As a candidate, President Joe Biden has said he supports the creation of the commission, but has yet to officially endorse it. supported as Commander-in-Chief. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, is currently the House bill’s lead sponsor.

Getting government leaders to openly consider slavery reparations was daunting and took decades. But progress has been made at the state and local levels, especially since the national toll on racial injustice that was sparked after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In Michigan, legislative proposals submitted to the House of Representatives earlier this year call for $1.5 billion federal dollars to be placed in a racial equity and reparations fund within the state treasury. The funds would be disbursed to various state departments and agencies to provide grants, loans and other economic assistance to businesses and economic developments that promote the black community.

The bills have yet to receive a hearing in the House.

Last year, Evanston, Illinois — the first U.S. city to find a source of funding for repairs — began giving eligible Black residents $25,000 housing grants for down payments, repairs or existing mortgages. The program is intended to atone for the history of racial discrimination and housing discrimination. Recipients were randomly selected from applicants, black residents who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969.

And in Providence, Rhode Island, the mayor announced a city reparations commission in February that will seek to atone for the city’s role in slavery and systemic racism, as well as the mistreatment of Native Americans.

For Anita Belle, a grassroots activist in Detroit, where residents of the predominantly black city voted in November to create a city reparations commission, getting to this point in the pursuit of reparations is cause for celebration. But what happens next is worrying, especially when it comes to who gets what and how much, she said.

“I am happy for all of us who have worked in the field for all these years,” said Belle, founder of the Reparations Labor Union. “We’re a little scared that these people who jumped on the bandwagon are actually there to sabotage it and make $12.62 repairs, if that. There will be these saboteurs – people who look like us, but who have hidden agendas.”

“You have some of that fear in California where the scope of reparations has been limited to people who can prove they were enslaved,” she added. “People in California will say ‘why am I paying reparations for someone who was enslaved in Mississippi?'”

In California, the task force is taking the next step with economists to determine the cost of compensating more than 2 million black residents, though not all would be eligible. After the abolition of slavery, black migration to California occurred primarily in the decades following World War II, with newly arrived African Americans settling in cities such as Oakland, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The black population rose from just under half a million, or 4.4% of the population, in 1950 to 1.4 million, or 7% of the population, in 1970. Decades later, the 2020 census recorded 2.1 million black residents in California, or about 5.3% of the state’s population.

Although the proposals and who is eligible seem to vary, they are always types of reparations, according to Rashawn Ray, senior research fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

“California chose to focus on black slavery,” Ray said. “In Evanston, it’s segregation and housing segregation. Both are problems that should be compensated to them according to what is wrong.

But, added Ray, “Federal reparations — definitely and hands down — is what we need. What happens in California should happen in Congress.”

As a former Evanston, Illinois, city councilor and longtime advocate for reparations, Robin Rue Simmons said reaching consensus on eligibility can be difficult because Decision makers should be as broad and inclusive as possible, while identifying the specific harms they seek. Address.

California’s big step could help spur action on reparations proposals in other cities and states, Simmons said, and perhaps add pressure for the federal government to act, which she considers essential.

She doesn’t expect California’s lineage-based eligibility standard to become the norm.

“I don’t think one community should think another has it figured out for them,” Simmons said, “because each community is going to have its own priorities and specific story.”

———

Bynum reported from Savannah, Ga. AP writers Janie Har in San Francisco and Michael Schneider in Orlando contributed to this story.

Tech companies led stocks lower on Wall Street on Wednesday, ending a four-day winning streak for the market, after an economic report stoked concerns about the health of the economy.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% after losing nearly 1.1% at one point. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.2%, almost fully recovering from a 0.7% loss. The pullback was the indices’ first close lower in five days. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 1.2%.

New data from the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 6.9% from October through December, slower than previous estimates and below economists’ expectations.

The data, which came amid a rebound in stocks over the past two weeks, may have led investors to claw back some recent gains, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist, CFRA.

“The GDP numbers were weaker than we expected,” Stovall said. “It looks like we are in the throes of a period of weakness in the first quarter.”

The S&P 500 fell 29.15 points to 4,602.45. The Dow slipped 65.38 points to 35,228.81. The Nasdaq lost 177.36 points to 14,442.27.

In a reversal from the previous day, shares of smaller companies fell more than the market as a whole. The Russell 2000 Index slipped 42.03 points, or 2%, to 2,091.07.

Markets have mostly gained ground this week as talks between Russia and Ukraine appear to be progressing and following encouraging data on consumer confidence.

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine remain uncertain, however, and Russian bombardments in areas where they said they would dampen tempered optimism about the prospects for resolving the conflict.

Tech stocks were among the largest weightings in the broader market. Many companies in the sector have high values ​​which tend to have an outsized effect on the evolution of stock indices. Chipmaker Nvidia fell 3.4%. Retailers also fell. Home Depot slipped 2.9%.

Oil prices, volatile since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, gained ground. U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 3.4% and Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.9%. Energy stocks gained ground as oil prices rose. Phillips 66 rose 4.8%.

Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, slipped to 2.35% from 2.40% on Tuesday evening.

Bond yields have mostly risen this year as Wall Street braces for a policy shift from the Federal Reserve. The central bank, along with its global counterparts, is raising benchmark interest rates to help tackle persistently rising inflation.

Wall Street is also watching the bond market closely for clues about the economy’s trajectory. On Tuesday, the 10-year Treasury yield briefly fell below the 2-year Treasury yield, in what Wall Street calls an “inversion” of the Treasury yield curve. Investors are taking note as prolonged yield reversals have accurately predicted previous US recessions. The 2-year Treasury yield fell to 2.33% from 2.35% on Tuesday night.

Investors have several other economic updates to review this week. On Thursday, the Commerce Department will release its Personal Income and Spending report for February and the Labor Department will release its March jobs report on Friday.

Wall Street is also gearing up for the latest round of corporate report cards as the quarter draws to a close. Several companies have already released financial results and updates.

Sportswear maker Lululemon jumped 9.6% after announcing encouraging financial results for its latest quarter and giving strong sales guidance. Online pet store Chewy fell 16.1% after reporting a bigger fiscal fourth-quarter loss than analysts expected.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Here is a press release from the IRS Criminal Investigation:

DENVER- IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) today released investigative statistics on the agency’s COVID-related fraud investigations over the past two years.

The agency investigated 660 tax and money laundering cases related to COVID fraud, with alleged fraud in those cases totaling $1.8 billion. These cases included a wide range criminal activity, including fraudulently obtained loans, credits and payments intended for American workers, families and small businesses.

“The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) was enacted nearly two years ago as a safety net for Americans in the face of an unprecedented health crisis. Unfortunately, even in times of crisis, criminals stick their heads out to look for ways to take advantage of those at their most vulnerable. Through the investigative work of IRS-CI Special Agents and our law enforcement partners, we have ensured that criminals who attempt to defraud CARES Act programs face the consequences of their acts,” said IRS-CI chief Jim Lee.

“The IRS Criminal Investigation’s enforcement efforts have a direct impact on the American public’s confidence in federal tax laws and assistance programs,” said Andy Tsui, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Field Office. the IRS Criminal Investigation in Denver. “Our special agents are committed to identifying and investigating individuals who attempt to defraud the federal government for their personal gain and to send a clear message to criminals that they will be held accountable for their actions.”

These consequences include a 100% conviction rate for cases prosecuted with prison sentences averaging 42 months.

The IRS Criminal Investigation Denver Field Office conducts investigations throughout Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Case examples include:

Kasey Wilson was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison and ordered to pay $125,000 in restitution for orchestrating a scheme to receive Paycheck Protection Program loan payments. Wilson and a co-defendant made false statements on a PPP loan application that their company paid payroll taxes and had 34 employees. The company never paid payroll taxes and had no employees other than Wilson and the co-defendant.

Douglas Wold of Meridian, Idaho was sentenced to federal prison for wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering based on schemes to defraud his employer. Wold committed fraud in a COVID-19 testing program by issuing a fraudulent invoice to Fry Foods Inc. on behalf of his company, Hala Lallo Health. When Fry Foods paid Hala Lallo Heath for the tests, Wold deposited the money in a bank account he controlled and did not pay the health care provider who actually performed the tests.

The IRS-CI encourages the public to share information regarding known or suspected fraud attempts against any of the programs offered through the CARES Act. For report a suspected crimetaxpayers can visit IRS.gov.

The CARES Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to millions of Americans suffering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the sources of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of up to $349 billion in small business forgivable loans for job retention and certain other expenses, through the PPP. . In April 2020, Congress authorized over $300 billion in additional funding, and in December 2020 another $284 billion.

The Paycheck Protection Program allows eligible small businesses and certain other organizations to receive loans with terms of two to five years and an interest rate of 1%. Businesses must use PPP loan proceeds for payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent and utilities. The PPP allows interest and principal to be waived if businesses spend the proceeds of these expenses within a specified time frame and use at least a certain percentage of the loan for payroll expenses.

To learn more about COVID-19 scams and other financial schemes visit IRS.gov. Official IRS information on COVID-19 and Economic Impact Payments can be found at Coronavirus tax relief pagewhich is frequently updated.

Image source: Getty Images

When the COVID-19 outbreak first broke out, it led to a massive wave of jobless claims. Without healthy savings accounts, many Americans quickly fell behind on essential bills, including housing payments.

Protections were put in place at the start of the pandemic to prevent people from losing their homes. Landlords were allowed to suspend their mortgages, while an eviction ban prevented landlords from evicting tenants for non-payment of rent.

At this point, both protections have largely expired. But fortunately, there are still rent relief funds available for tenants who have not yet updated their housing payments.

In fact, the federal government could soon allocate an additional $53 million in rent relief funds to states that need the most help. But this money is being taken back from a State that has been too slow to grant this aid.

Montana residents could be losers

Montana has, to date, received $352 million in rental assistance funds over two funding rounds. But the state has distributed just under $46 million, or an average of $7,300 in assistance per household that has received assistance so far.

Because Montana was slow to disburse this aid, the federal government is now taking back much of it. And it’s not the only state where this is happening. On the contrary, Montana is one of 11 states losing aid due to what is called “excess” funding.

Montana received a $200 million award for rent relief in its first round of funding. But the state was required to allocate 65% of that money by last September to prevent some of those funds from being taken back. Because Montana failed to meet this requirement, it was forced to return $7.6 million in rent relief funds in December and another $45.3 million in February.

Fortunately, the state has until 2025 to spend the $152 million it was awarded in its second round of funding. But the state isn’t happy to lose that $53 million, especially as it resolves its backlog of rent relief claims.

The loss of one state is a gain for the other states.

While it’s unfortunate that Montana is losing rent relief funds, the good news is that those dollars are being reallocated to states in dire need of assistance due to a high percentage of renters. These include New York, New Jersey, California and Illinois.

Still, Montana officials say the state’s rent relief program is helping many residents. In addition, the State plans to launch an awareness campaign to encourage qualified tenants to apply for assistance.

Montana also directed some of its existing assistance to the state health department for Housing Stability Services. And he is actively working with the Montana Legal Services Association to identify tenants at risk of eviction.

Yet the state maintains that rent relief funds will only solve part of its current housing crisis — and the lack of affordable housing is an issue it continues to grapple with. Unfortunately, the rent relief funds Montana has received cannot be used to build affordable housing. But the state Department of Commerce is working on several projects that could help.

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