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John Gear Law Office, LLC, underwrites Salem's only community radio station

9/27/2011

John Gear Law Office, LLC, is proud to be among the first 10 underwriters for the new, just-about-to-be-on-the-air, volunteer-run and community powered radio station in Salem:

KMUZ, a non-commercial, nonprofit station with 100% local management, leadership, and programmers.

JGLO has been supporting the nonprofit that owns the KMUZ license since before it was "born" -- the founding bylaws for the Willamette Information, News, and Entertainment Service (WINES) were even written and approved right here on High St. in Salem.
Consider joining me as a supporter or underwriter for KMUZ. Great communities have locally owned media!

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Oregon Lege bows before debt collectors who can't be bothered with piddly little details like proving that you owe the debt

9/24/2011

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How sad -- the Legislature couldn't muster the courage needed to stand up to the debt collector lobby. Anyone know how to photoshop the Golden Man to show him kow-towing?

Story from Bloomberg:

    A wave of U.S. state laws that require debt collectors to document exactly who owes what has triggered a state-by-state lobbying battle over rules of evidence that the industry says could slice into profitability.

     A 2009 law in North Carolina requiring collectors to provide original contracts and imposing penalties for erroneous litigation has slowed the industry’s work in that state. Other states, including Massachusetts, Florida, California and Oregon, have followed North Carolina’s law with similar proposals. Consumer advocates say the laws are necessary to curb abuses.

Sounds great, right? Sounds like Oregon is going to follow a law that has worked to stop abuses in debt collecting.

Er, um ... not so fast:

    The law’s effect in North Carolina emboldened consumer groups and their legislative allies to push ahead in other states, and mobilized industry opposition as well. In December 2010, a similar bill in Oregon faced organized industry opposition at a hearing, and died in committee.

     “I was surprised at the degree of lobbying to stop this,” said Angela Martin, executive director of Economic Fairness Oregon, a consumer group. “We thought we had a consensus bill.”

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An unusual idea that looks better and better all the time

9/23/2011

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Forgive student loan debt?! What kind of a cockamamie idea is that? Why should we do that? OK, since you asked:

1) There's no better way to immediately put a little more money in the hands of people who need it most, and will spend it immediately.

2) A huge portion of the student loan debt now crushing people was taken when student loans were able to be discharged in bankruptcy. Then, years later, the companies that make these loans -- at virtually no risk, and with VERY high profit rates -- gave enough money to Congress to buy themselves a change in the law to prevent student loans from being discharged in bankruptcy. In other words, the rules of the game changed in a crucial way AFTER people had taken these loans.

3) Kneecapping young people with huge debts might feel good in a "you oughta pay your debts" way, but it's penny wise and pound-foolish. One of the reasons our economy is struggling is that young people cannot afford to start new ventures, because they have huge loan payments to make.

We need a total rethink of our system for financing higher education, one that makes the colleges and universities have a lot more skin in the game. Right now, the student loan business is a lot closer to loan sharking than it should be. A jubilee (debt forgiveness) would not only help millions now, but it would also give us the opportunity to start over with a much more far

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Thank you for signing the petition to Forgive Student Loan Debt as a Means of Economic Stimulus! Thanks to so many people sharing, posting, emailing and tweeting, as well as MoveOn.org's promotion of the petition, nearly 400,000 people have signed it! There's absolutely no doubt that we're making waves and getting noticed, but this campaign is really just beginning. There's more work to be done!

Today, I'm asking you to take a few moments of your time to remind those who purport to represent us in Washington that we truly care about this issue and that we're not going away!

Therefore, I'm asking everyone to please call your Senators and Representatives in Congress TODAY and ask them to support H.Res 365 and the efforts of Rep. Hansen Clarke with respect to student loan forgiveness.

Signing a petition is one thing, but flooding the Congressional switchboard with calls from every state in the nation and from all political stripes and backgrounds is quite another. It's extremely important to remind Congress that there's a human being behind every single one of the nearly 400,000 signatures we've obtained thus far, and that every single one of them is truly suffering under the weight of their student loan debts, preventing them from spending, starting businesses or families and buying homes - the very things we need middle-class and working-class Americans doing right now to help re-build the economy that was nearly destroyed 3 years ago.

To quickly and easily find out who your Senators and Representatives are and to obtain their D.C. office telephone numbers, please click here.

Then, simply type in your address and/or zip code and 3 names should immediately pop up - your state's two Senators, as well as your Member of Congress. Call all three at their D.C. offices today and implore them to listen to the voices of the American people who are speaking up loudly on the issue of crushing student loan debt.

To whatever extent possible, please try to stick with calling their Washington, D.C. offices so as to make the greatest impact possible. If we can jam up the Congressional phone lines - all the better!

Thanks again for all of your help in making this petition such a huge success! Let's keep the momentum building!

Sincerely,
Rob Applebaum, Esq.
Founder, ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com

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Student loan default tsunami rising even higher

9/13/2011

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The key points from a NYT story:

Student borrowing has been increasing in recent years, as tuition has grown faster than inflation or family income. And with the recession, and high unemployment rates for young workers, default rates may continue to rise for some years. Borrowers who default can face a lifetime of consequences, including inability to borrow for a car or a house, wage garnishment, seizure of tax refunds, or even, in an era when employers increasingly check credit reports, difficulty in getting a job.

Many borrowers, even those who are unemployed or earning little, can avoid default by participating in an income-based repayment program that began in 2009 but is not as widely used as might be expected. Under the program, borrowers who pay 15 percent of their discretionary income for 25 years — 10 years if they are in public service — can have the rest of their federal student loan debt forgiven; in 2014, that will go down to paying 10 percent of discretionary income for 20 years.

“In the age of income-based repayment, there is no reason for a student to default, since even a payment of zero dollars is acceptable payment, if you have zero discretionary income,” Ms. Cochrane said. “But as of April of this year, only about 350,000 borrowers have entered income-based payment, a small subset of the eligible population. Students need to understand the options, colleges need to share the information, and the department needs to make it as easy as possible for students to enroll.”

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Great, now regular banks are getting into the legalized loan sharking known as Payday lending

9/12/2011

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From the Naked Capitalism blog:

Payday Loans Are Dead! Long Live Payday Loans!

In yet another example of finance double-speak, major financial players have moved into that netherworld of the functional equivalent of loansharking known as payday lending.

While in theory short-term loans can be a boon to cash-strapped individuals, in practice, the usurious interest of payday loans result in many borrowers falling into a debt treadmill. The Pentagon was so concerned about the way that payday lending could wreak havoc with the lives of combat personnel that it restricted the rates that could be charged to military personnel to 36%. The industry howled that rules would drive payday lenders out of the business of serving the armed forces (they had previously been targeting bases). I suspect that result was a feature, not a bug.

. . . But some industry critics say fixed-income borrowers are not only more reliable, they are also more lucrative. Often elderly or disabled, they are typically dependent on smaller fixed incomes and are rarely able to pay off their loans quickly. “It’s not like they can work more hours,” says David Rothstein, an analyst at Policy Matters Ohio, an economic research group in Cleveland. “They’re trapped.”

The latest sighting, via the Associated Press (hat tip April Charney) is that bigger, more reputable-looking banks are offering payday loans, but predictably calling them something else, in much the way that the term “escort service” is meant to imply something more refined than “prostitution”. From the Clarion Ledger:

Perhaps muttering, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, big banks are now aping the payday lending industry and offering short-term loans at rates that once were called usurious.

The banks are not calling them payday loans and say there are safeguards that distinguish them from payday loans. But, it’s still a short-term note. Wells Fargo, for example, offers its loans for direct deposit customers. As The Associated Press has reported, it says customers can only borrow up to half their direct deposit amount or $500, whichever is less. Its fees are cheaper too, at $7.50 for every $100 borrowed.

That still amounts to a 261 percent annualized interest rate over the typical pay cycle. The amount of the advance and the fee are automatically deducted from the next direct deposit. . . .

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Planning to do your own root canal? Perhaps with a hygienist to assist?

9/11/2011

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     Salem Weekly has an ad in the current issue for an outfit called "AffordableCourtDocuments.com," which styles itself as 'The Peoples [sic] Document Source' and offers to have you FILE BANKRUPTCY $399.99. I hope they understand the law better than they understand possessive punctuation and verb tenses, but I rather doubt it:

Welcome to The Peoples Document Source. The non-attorney paralegal team at The Peoples Document Source is at your service. We offer affordable, reliable and fully prepare legal documents concerning a variety of disciplines. We offer Bankrutpcy Chapter 7 and 13. We offer affordable Wills, and Uncontested Divorce with or without children. We also offer criminal record expungments, name change, adoption, auto or home loan modification paperwork, and much more. All you do is sign and file.

     Word of advice: unless you are the kind of person who likes to do your own dentistry, run away from these people. Their ad shows the classic balance-beam scales that have become a shorthand symbol for lawyers in the way that three gold balls have become the symbol for pawn shops. (Oddly, pawnshops are better regulated than these people.) Worse, their ad says "Low Cost Legal Help."

     Funny, why doesn't it say "Low Cost Paralegal Help"? Could it be that they want you to think you're getting legal help, while they actually are simply charging exorbitant fees for doing nothing for you?

     In the age of the Internet, paralegal document preparers are a huge ripoff.  If you want to file bankruptcy on your own, go to the library and borrow any of the excellent Nolo Press books on the subject. Or contact a real bankruptcy lawyer and negotiate a deal for doing the legwork and preparing the schedules on a do-it-yourself basis and have the lawyer look them over and tell you what you've missed.

     Giving $400 to people who do nothing but take freely available forms and fill them out for you is insane, and bankruptcy is nothing to fool around with.   Alternatively, if they do anything beyond that, they are giving you legal advice, which they are not licensed to do and which can easily blow up in your face. Remember, when you file bankruptcy, you are also starting a lengthy period in which you cannot again file bankruptcy, no matter how dire your circumstances become. Worse, when you screw up a bankruptcy, you can easily wind up with the worst of all worlds -- you give control of all your assets to a bankruptcy trustee but wind up left with debts that don't get discharged. Some of the first folks to consult with me when I opened my doors were a young couple who were way underwater with debts, including student loan debts (which cannot be discharged in bankruptcy) -- the problem they had was that some clown like these document preparers had put them through bankruptcy .... while forgetting to mention one tiny little fact to them: they were still going to owe the student loans.

      BOTTOM LINE: If you only have $400 to your name, spend it talking to a real lawyer about how to accomplish your legal goals in the best way for you, given your financial limitations. $400 of real advice that a real lawyer will stand behind is a lot better value than $400 spent on "service" that can put you worse off than when you started.

     And, no, I'm not ragging on these people because they are competition. I don't do bankruptcy work (although I have thought about adding it to my practice, just to keep clients in financial trouble from winding up in the grasp of folks like this), so I'm not hurt. Nor do I do divorces, and they sure aren't competition for doing estate planning (as I've never had an estate planning client who didn't know that the Internet is full of cheap or free estate planning forms).

     Nor am I ragging on paralegals. A good paralegal is a prized professional of great worth, but a good paralegal -- like any other professional -- is someone who is ethical and careful about not misrepresenting themselves or their services, No good paralegal attempts to sell legal services, especially not complex issues like bankruptcy, and especially not on a flat-fee basis that makes it impossible for them to invest any serious time helping you.

UPDATE: After posting this, a friend sends: The other day I saw an ad from one of those places, offering to get you a "quick claim deed." [sic - quit-claim deed]

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Thinking about a trade school or "career college"? Read this first

9/8/2011

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Good concise article of warning from USAA Magazine. Download this file (short pdf)

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Hunger hits home in Marion County -- veterans too

9/8/2011

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Hunger happens to heroes too.

Veterans, their spouses and their children are among the 7,000 families turning to Marion-Polk Food Share for help each month. Consider joining me as a Sustainer Circle supporter for Marion-Polk Food Share. See the PS in Rachel's letter to see why to do it now.

[Photo: A photo of the author of and her children, Audrey and Grayson,]
====================================================
"Good afternoon! This is Rachel."

That's how I answer the phone whenever it rings at my desk. Most days the calls I receive are related to the Sustainer Campaign, events and general giving.

One Thursday afternoon in June my phone rang and on the other end was a young father named Kevin* asking about how to get emergency food. This wasn't an unusual call; I had received a few of these too. In most cases I had been able to find the information, but on that day, Kevin was asking about getting a food box delivered. You see, he was a Veteran who had been disabled in the most recent Iraq war and could no longer drive. He was a stay at home dad with three children ages 2, 3 and 13. I told Kevin I would get him in contact with a colleague who was more knowledgeable about our partner agencies and could find the right one to deliver.

Now, this would usually be the end of my involvement, however, my phone rang again. It was Kevin. He had reached a voicemail messgage which said my colleague was going to be out of the office until Monday. Kevin, on the verge of tears, said he didn't think his family could make it that long and he began to elaborate on his story. Kevin hadn't just been wounded in Iraq - he had been shot in the head. This devastating injury had left him with a seizure disorder, rendering him unable to work or drive. In fact, they didn't even own a car. His wife was a student and worked part-time. They were struggling to say the least.

He expressed shame for needing to call and ask for help. Eventually, he broke down, calling himself a "scumbag" and crying. I told him not to worry - we are here to help. Kevin apologized for his breakdown.

As he spoke, I could hear a young child crying in the background. Kevin asked if there was any way we could get them some milk. He told me his youngest son was crying because he wanted milk and they didn't have any for him.

As a mother of two young children (ages 8 months and 2 years), I was deeply affected by his situation. I told him that I wasn't nearly knowledgeable enough about our member agencies to be able to get him set up with the appropriate one, but we would get him help.

I took his phone number and hung up. Thankfully our Vice President of Operations was already in my office; I couldn't have had a better person available to lend a hand. He immediately headed down to our warehouse. Please understand, we don't distribute food to individuals directly from our warehouse, so this was going above and beyond. While the food box was being assembled in our warehouse, I called Kevin back to let him know we were getting food gathered and would be sending someone to his house.

"Grateful" doesn't even come close to expressing how Kevin felt when I told him we would be helping. But I had a nagging feeling. This man, his family and their situation had struck a chord with me. I needed to do something more. Before heading to my baby-sitter's house to pick up my children, I stopped by the grocery store. I knew KEvin and his family would be set up with a very complete food box, but I wanted to do more. I picked up a few of those things that we don't always have on hand: fresh chicken, fresh fruit, eggs, cheese and ice cream sandwiches (the kids needed something fun to put a smile on their faces).

After making my own delivery, I left their home feeling that I had done everything I could to help this family. I also left with a sense that I now understood exactly how important Marion-Polk Food Share is, how important my job is and how important the Sustainer Circle is.

Kevin was brave enough to ask for help. You can help answer the call from heroes in need by joining Marion-Polk Food Share's Sustainer Circle. If you want more information about the Sustainer Circle, please give me a call at 503-581-3855 ext. 309. I would be happy to answer your questions or help get you started.

Sincerely,
Rachel Humpert
Marion-Polk Food Share

P.S. Your gift will go twice as far if you join the Sustainer Circle today! Your 1st three monthly gifts will be matched by the Collins Foundation. There's $75,000 at stake for hungry local families.

*Name has been changed.

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Are you active reservist or Guard member with a civilian job too?

9/7/2011

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Then you need to know about this:

OREGON EMPLOYER SUPPORT OF THE GUARD AND RESERVE

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Legal Aid funding cuts hit Marion and Polk Counties

9/6/2011

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     Starting several years before I went into private practice, I began volunteering at Marion-Polk Legal Aid Services on State St. here in Salem. At MPLAS, a dedicated, bare-bones staff in a very, very bare-bones building works hard to offer people a bare minimum of help with their civil legal needs, hamstrung by funding restrictions and now, funding cuts.

     There are too many unmet needs for sure, but if we do not preserve a functioning legal aid system, there will be nothing there. Like many other attorneys, I do a lot more pro bono work than I should reasonably do, mainly because it pains me to see people unable to get any help just because they are unable to afford a lawyer. But as a society, we cannot expect attorneys in private practice to meet the needs of the poor any more than we expect doctors and dentists to meet all the health care needs of the poor with pro bono work. If I don't limit my pro bono work, I won't be able to be in practice much longer.

     Oregon desperately needs a solid, stable, and AMPLE funding stream for civil legal representation, one that doesn't tank when interest rates fluctuate (the way the interest-on-lawyer-trust-accounts revenue stream has) or impose punitive filing fees on people unlucky enough to have a case arise when the state is slashing funding for legal services.

     We need to recognize legal aid as a kind of community public health resource, like a free vaccination clinic -- because when we ignore the legal needs of the poor, they don't just magically disappear, they get worse and become far more difficult and expensive to deal with. When society doesn't fund vaccines for the poor, it's not just the poor who suffer. Same with civil law. Sure we can shave a few bucks off the legal aid budget every year after year after year -- but then we wonder why we, to take just one example, have to spend so much more to try to educate kids who change schools five and six times in two years (because the parent's inability to defend themselves against an abusive debt collector caused wage garnishment and loss of housing, leading to a vicious downward spiral of unemployment and underemployment, which causes housing and food insecurity, which raises the likelihood of student failure, dropping out, and other social maladaptations).

     The bottom line: Even if you think that you or anyone you love will never need good legal services through a publicly funded legal aid system, you are better off with an amply funded legal aid system, because your community will be far better off, and you will spend far less in taxes and social services.

     Please, tell your elected representatives that you support full funding for legal aid programs in your community.

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John Gear Law Office, LLC, underwrites Salem's only community radio station

Oregon Lege bows before debt collectors who can't be bothered with piddly little details like proving that you owe the debt

An unusual idea that looks better and better all the time

Student loan default tsunami rising even higher

Great, now regular banks are getting into the legalized loan sharking known as Payday lending

Planning to do your own root canal? Perhaps with a hygienist to assist?

Thinking about a trade school or "career college"? Read this first

Hunger hits home in Marion County -- veterans too

Are you active reservist or Guard member with a civilian job too?

Legal Aid funding cuts hit Marion and Polk Counties

Subscribe to get occasional emails from John Gear Law Office.

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