Calling all credit card users- New credit card rules begin

By the time you are reading this, rules for credit cards will have changed. “Newly purchased gift cards won't expire as quickly, and late fees on credit card payments won't be as punishing."

“The final stage of consumer protections signed into law this year go into effect Sunday. Yet they only curb select practices; other fees and charges still abound.”

Here are some of the new safeguards, but remember, you can still get burned.

Penalty fees:

New protection:

Fees for late payments and other transgressions will be capped to the amount of the violation, up to $25. And, a single violation can no longer result in more than one fee.

Gaps to watch: Technically, there isn't an outright ban on penalty fees higher than $25.

“There aren't any caps on other charges. And not surprisingly, many issuers hiked fees for balance transfers, foreign transactions and cash advances in the past year.”

Rate hikes:
New protection:

“Banks must review a rate hike every six months to decide whether the increase is still warranted. If the factors that prompted the hike are no longer applicable, the rate must be lowered.”

This rule applies to hikes dating to Jan. 1 of last year, when banks began raising rates in anticipation of the new regulations.

Gaps to watch: 

“Even if a bank finds that a rate should be lowered, the reduction doesn't have to restore the previous interest rate.”

Gift cards:

Expiration dates

New protection:

“Gift cards issued after Aug. 22 must have expiration dates that are at least five years from their date of purchase.”

Gap to watch:

“The rule doesn't apply to certain gift cards, such as those issued as part of a rewards or loyalty program.”

Inactivity and service fees:

New protection:

“Such fees can only be charged if the card hasn't been used for at least one year. After that, only one fee can be charged each month.”

Gaps to watch:

“There's no cap on inactivity or service fees. So even though you can only be assessed one monthly fee, it could quickly eat away at a card's value if it's not used.”

It's a first step, some one say a small one, others a big one, in giving consumers more protection.  Let's see what Congress does next.

Read the Associated Press article.

For your next title order or 

if you have questions about what you see here, contact 

Stephen M. Flatow 

Vested Title Inc. 

648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, 

Jersey City, NJ 07306 

Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506 

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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Loss of state support may end horse racing in New Jersey

New Jersey property owners are already hit hard by the state of New Jersey’s economy.  Taxes, taxes, and taxes head the list of complaints.  Now, a double-edged sword is being raised at one of N.J.’s homegrown businesses—horse racing.

According to a special report in the Asbury Park Press,

“Those in the New Jersey equine industry say the horse-racing business generates $780 million annually for the state's economy, responsible for more than 6,500 jobs.

“But with Gov. Chris Christie's proposal to shift the state's focus from horse racing to the casinos in Atlantic City, local horse farmers and other business owners worry the equine industry would lose its vitality or dissipate altogether.

"’People in the sport are going to go where horse racing is viable,'' said Tim Clevenger, 26, who tends to standardbreds every morning at a Manalapan farm.”If not here, they're going to race someplace else or get out of the game.’''

OK, so just how does this affect the quality of life in New Jersey?  Well, some will say that the 176,000 acres of real estate now being used for horse farms and related purposes will be, here comes the dirty word, developed into housing. 

In addition,

“In a study headed by Karyn Malinowski, director of Rutgers' Equine Science Center, the state's equine industry was valued at $4 billion, much of it related to racing. It generates $1.1 billion ($780 million from racing) annually in positive impact on the state economy, the study said, and is responsible for 13,000 jobs, more than half of which are generated by racing-related interests, such as race tracks, and horse breeding and training facilities.”

Read the full story.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow

Vested Title Inc.

648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453,

Jersey City, NJ 07306

Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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What can be done to control Canada geese in New Jersey?

Anyone who has tried to enjoy one of NJ’s beautiful parks and lakes knows first hand how foul the resident fowl—Canadian geese—can make those parks and lakes.  So, what to do?  Just last month someone decided enough was enough and killed 18 geese in Mount Laurel, N.J.
As noted in the Asbury Park Press:

“The butchering of the geese at the shopping center was a shocking reaction, perhaps undertaken by an annoyed resident or business owner, to what has become a growing problem in all corners of the state.”

“Towns, golf courses, parks and businesses face the choice of getting rid of the geese or letting them stay and dealing with the bacteria-carrying feces they leave behind. The towns and institutions that opt to get rid of some or all of their geese then face another choice: How to do it? Many of the options are unpopular. So is doing nothing about the problem.”

Municipalities and businesses around New Jersey have undertaken different ways to control the geese.  They range from euthanization to hiring dogs to chase the geese.  But as noted by Andrew Spears, superintendent of recreation for Monmouth County parks,

"The geese were taking over public facilities, lake fronts, golf courses and playing fields.

“Spears said Geese Chasers helps control the resident bird population by disrupting nests and eventually moving them to less trafficked areas in the park system. But Spears realizes chasing the geese from one place to another is not a permanent solution.”

Read the full story.

For your next title order or
if you have questions about what you see here, contact
Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453,
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
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Mortgage servicers take on two roles, and the homeowner pays

In her column, Fair Game, in the Sunday New York Times, Gretchen Morgenson lays bare a possible reason that homeowners are not getting approved for mortgage modifications—the folks who make those decisions also own junior liens that may be prejudiced by those decisions.

Morgenson introduces you to Brad Miller, a Democratic representative from North Carolina with a background in consumer law.  “This past March, Mr. Miller introduced a bill that would eliminate one of the most pernicious conflicts of interest in banking today: the dueling roles played by the big mortgage servicers.”

“When borrowers are defaulting in droves, as they are now, loan servicing becomes much more complex and laborious. Servicers must chase delinquent borrowers for payments and otherwise manage these uneasy relationships, possibly into foreclosure.

“So where does the conflict of interest lie? Often, the same bank that services a primary mortgage owned by another institution also owns a second mortgage or home equity line of credit on the same property. When that borrower has trouble meeting both payments, the servicer has an interest in making sure that amounts owed on the second lien, which it owns, continue to be paid even if the first loan, which it has no interest in, slides into delinquency. About two-thirds of primary mortgages are serviced by banks who do not own them but hold the accompanying seconds.”

Miller has some good ideas but knows it will be an uphill fight.  We’ll keep you posted.

Read the full story.


Your comments are welcome.

For your next title order or 

if you have questions about what you see here,

contact Stephen M. Flatow 

Vested Title Inc. 

648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, 

Jersey City, NJ 07306 

Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506 

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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The long arm of the law grabs 2 mortgage swindlers

New Jersey’s Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced yesterday “that a Union County mortgage loan solicitor has been charged with conspiring with others – including a Kearny woman who was charged previously – in a scheme to steal millions of dollars by obtaining mortgage loans using false identities and counterfeit documents.”

Nuno J. Sousa, 34, of Elizabeth, was arrested yesterday.  He joins Genilza R. Nunes who was arrested in March.

“The state investigation determined that Nunes, Sousa and a number of co-conspirators allegedly were involved in a sophisticated, multi-million dollar mortgage loan fraud scheme operating in northern New Jersey, including Morris, Somerset, Hudson, Union, Passaic and Essex Counties. The state has specifically alleged that Nunes and Sousa – with Sousa acting as the mortgage loan solicitor – engaged in fraudulent transactions involving five properties, with a total fraud of $2,152,800. However, it is believed that the scheme is much larger.”

We write about these arrests and hoped-for prosecutions not out of any sense of glee but to demonstrate that the real estate market collapse did not result just from the shenanigans of big Wall Street firms but also from thefts and frauds of the kind allegedly pulled-off by these defendants.  If the alleged scheme is part of a larger one, I can’t wait to see the rest.

You can read the Attorney General’s press release here.

For your next title order or 

if you have questions about what you see here, contact 

Stephen M. Flatow 

Vested Title Inc. 

648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453,

Jersey City, NJ 07306 

Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506 

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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