Garnishing Loans – Student Loan Creditors Can Garnish Your Money

Have you ever thought if Lenders can garnish your bank account as they hunt on recovering student loan debt?  Garnishing Loans can be done in different ways depending on if your loan is a private or federal loan.

 

Your wages will not be tampered with until there is a default on your loan. So, therefore, defaulting a loan is what calls for garnishing. The loan will have defaulted if payments are not made for at least 180 days. When you stop making payments, the loan becomes delinquent and as such you attract default. There are basically three things you need to do –complete your payment up to date, or seek forbearance or deferment.  You get to destabilize your installment plan on your student loan

Federal Student Loans

There is no order when it comes to loans, governing the judgment to garnish your wages. First and famous, It should be that the lender first sues you to court to obtain a judgment of garnishing your bank account. Federal lenders offing federal student loans don’t do this. You will only be sent a letter to your home address, offering you a 30-day notice that your wages will be garnished. Now, you can request for hearing in front of a judge to prepare your case.

The maximum that can be withheld from you when your Garnishing Loans is 15% of your disposable income, equal to the amount of your net paycheck after tax.  In a scenario you work as an employee, your employer will withhold these funds and forward them to the rightful creditor.

Private Student Loans

The case is different in private student loans. This loan is not offered by the government, rather by private lenders. However, the creditor must seek justice because he/she has no right to garnish your wages. Thus, the first a creditor does is t sue the borrower to court to obtain a judgment. The court will approve a court order to your employer with details of the garnishment.

The amount to be garnished on this part depends on the state in which you live. Some states creditors can garnish up to 25% of disposable income, which is your wages after 30 times the minimum wage ($217.50). But some kind of income cannot be garnished such as social security payments, child support, disability benefits, IRAs, alimony, and pension, plus other retirement funds, cannot be garnished.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3kV6a2Q

PLUS Loans – Federal loan designed for higher education

A Plus loan could also be referred to as a Direct PLUS Loans, which is a federal loan made and designed for higher education and offered to parents of undergraduate, graduate, or professional students. The Acronym PLUS Loans stands for Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students. Because it is a federal student loan, it is offered through the U.S. Department of Education’s William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. The need for Direct hence means it is a product of government and it is coming directly from the government. Thus, the government in this context is the lender.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Do you know that?.  In as much as PLUS loans stand for Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students, it still benefits graduates. Or professional students?
• Do you know with a PLUS loan you to borrow up to the full cost of college, aside from other financial aid provisions?
• Since PLUS loans is a federal student loan, it is not exempted from offering varieties of flexible repayment options.

For parents to be eligible for a PLUS loan, the student must enroll or have been enrolled in at least half-time with the school that supports the Federal Direct Loan Program. The way it works is that the PLUS loan money first gets to the institution to share it over the necessary expenses such as tuition, room and board, school fees. And at the end of it, the remaining funds are disbursed directly to the parents of the student.

PLUS loan is a type of loan with a fixed interest rate maintained for the entire loan period. The interest on federal loans including PLUS loan has been suspended during the crisis o Coronavirus by President Trump on March 13, 2020.

How to Qualify For a Plus Loan

First and famous, the parents of the student must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student (FAFSA), under which a credit check will be passed on. Now for graduate or professional degree student who wishes to borrow PLUS loan will be doing that on their behalf. This is generally known as grad PLUS. It is actually the opposite of a Parent PLUS loan.

To obtain a PLUS loan, the student must be totally dependent on their parent. This is because both parties at each end have eligibility roles to play such as permanent resident alien, adverse credit history, etc. Once they have all it takes, they have the chance of getting PLUS loans. But if not so, The parent may have to indicate or obtain an endorser for the loan.

Grad PLUS may really have the same requirements but it just different by allowing students to take responsibilities.

Advantages

• Since it leverages parents to borrow as a whole as they needed for the child’s education, it stands as the number one benefit of PLUS loan than many other loans.
• You can borrow PLUS loans without been asked of the financial need.
• PLUS loans are relatively low-interest rates and nevertheless, it is a fixed interest-based loan.

Disadvantages

• It demands that parents must be passed through credit checks to determine their eligibility for PLUS loans.
• There is a loan fee charged over a PLUS loan and will be deducted from each disbursement you receive.
• The repayment responsibility cannot be transferred to the student even after he//she must have graduated and had something doing.

Repaying PLUS Loans

Repayment of PLUS Loan begins as soon as the entire loan has been disbursed. So you can start repaying your loans while a student is in school or seek to defragment. For better advantage, you should better start repaying your loans while the student is still in school or request a deferment.

There are several repayment plans for parent PLUS loans. They include:

• Standard repayment plan: This plan gets you into paying monthly fixed payments up to 10 years. But in the midst of one parent having more than one Plus loan, you can extend the repayment period to up to 30 years.
• Graduated repayment plan: this plan will really fluctuate. Payments are made over a period of up to 10 years but interest will ever move from the low to high after two years.
• Extended repayment plan: This is obtainable for borrowers who owe more than $30,000 indirect loans. This will only leverage you with 25 years to pay off your loans either by fixed or graduated payments.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2HVxyQ2

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) – Student Financial Aid

FAFSA is an official form that must be attended to by families while applying for Federal Student Aid to pay for college. It is also a set of standards for making financial decisions in many colleges, universities, and states.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Firstly, do you know that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is used by the federal government. To determine a family’s eligibility over the grant. Student loans, and work-study?
• Also, do you know that States. Individual colleges and universities, and private scholarship programs have made FAFSA a standard. For making their own financial decision?
• Thirdly, do you also know that family tax returns. Contain as much information as demanded by the FAFSA. And can be downloaded quickly from IRS in many scenarios?
• Lastly, FAFSA is an acronym. That stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Annually, the Federal Student Aid under the U.S. Department of Education. Offers over $120 billion for the provision of federal aid. To 13 million students. The aid is inclusively grants. Work-study, and loans.

Federal Student Aid –

Grant:

Grants may come in the form of scholarships. This package is designed for students with “exceptional financial need”. And because of that, there is not expected to pay back. The commonest grants. Available are the Pell Grants.

Work-study program:

This program designed to provide payment.  As a part-time job for undergraduate and graduate students. Under participating colleges and universities.

Loans:

A loan is the opposite of what you get from grants or scholarships. This is because you must eventually repay the aid. Loans can be obtained from the federal government or private lenders. The difference is that federal loans would always have low-interest rates. Compared to private lenders. There are four major types of federal loans. Such as Stafford loans for higher education students. Direct Subsidized loans provided for families and will require checking out for financial needs. Direct Unsubsidized loans for families without checking for their Needs. And Direct PLUS loans for parents and graduate. Or professional students without considering the financial needs.

However, the FAFSA will be administered by the office of Federal Student Aid. Thus, it stands as a pathway to getting all types of aid.

The need for FAFSA is to extract certain answers for the financial status of the student. Using it to establish their Expected Family Contribution (EFC). This is simply the amount that the parents are expected to be able to pay.  From their pocket each year for the student’s college costs. By federal rules. FAFSA is largely used by the federal government. Colleges state assistance programs, and other scholarship forums to determine the amount of aid, kind of aid eligible to a family.

How to Fill Out the FAFSA

Furthermore, this is usually a long list filled with questions and requirements. hat is above giving immediate answers. This should be done every year in order to maintain their financial aid.

The FAFSA will want to find out identifiable information of the student and their parents – Such as name, address, social security number, date of birth, etc.  This is to create a system that fights for a detailed examination of their finances.

However, the parents and the students will need to supply information pertaining to their income and assets such as real estate and more, aside from the family home or small business venture.

Another set of information can be gotten on the family’s tax returns. Through the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, it is very possible to download the information needed directly to the FAFSA.

To avoid wasting time, you should have your brokerage, mutual fund statements, and bank statements at hand while you fill out the form. Now to access the printed FAFSA form online, visit the site https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/2019-20-fafsa.pdf. This can be faster compared to the handy version.

For every year, the FAFSA is made available on October 1 and submitted by the following June 30 on the long side with the upcoming school year. There is a deadline for FAFSA and should be that you fill out the form as early as possible.

There is also an alternative to FAFSA; CSS Profile. FAFSA is best known and that doesn’t mean that there are no alternatives which are CSS Profile. The CSS Profile is administered by the College Board and it is used in several hundred colleges, universities, and private scholarship programs to achieve the same purpose that FAFSA does. They equally ask similar questions as FAFSA does. It exposes more financial areas in drafting the student’s eligibility.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3eqyhV5

Value-Added Reseller (VAR) – Understanding How It Works

What is Value-Added Reseller (VAR)?

A value-added reseller (VAR) is a firm that enhances the value of third-party products. By adding features or services to an already existing product. Which then resells, usually to the end-user as a product or solution. This outfit is usually part of a sales channel. For an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The OEMs offer their goods to VARs at a discount. And the VAR in turn helps in moving product sales on behalf of the OEM. By adding pre-sales value to the end-user. (like facilitating proof of concepts and offering pre-sales engineering and sales support). The VAR adds a markup. To the final sale price of the product for these services.

How Value-Added Reseller (VAR) Works

Typically, a VAR creates a form for a particular hardware platform. And then, sells the combination as a turnkey solution. Most times, such bundles are aimed at the use of a vertical industry.

Apart from IT solutions, many VARs offer services as their key value-add. The VARs offer such services added to the products. Are often known as solution providers. Now such companies form channel partnerships with one or, more. Often, multiple product vendors for assistance in the process of building and marketing solutions. A product vendor, on the other hand, may seek out relationships with VARs. Offering a reseller program as part of a broader channel strategy.

Advantages of Value-Added Resellers

A value-added reseller has a potential for repeat business owing to the virtue of the added value they offer. A VAR can also come across as the single point of customer service-centric contact for customers of certain products and solutions. Typically, a VAR is often better positioned to understand the customers’ challenges so as to provide the kind of expertise which ensures customer satisfaction.

Each VAR comes with its own distinct portfolio of product offerings and skillsets. Some VARs possess the expertise of working with organizations in specific industries, like healthcare or financial services, and thus understand the unique technical and regulatory requirements of their customers.

Disadvantages of Value-Added Resellers

Value-added resellers are not really in control of what they are offering for sale, and the reselling process may not be transparent enough. Manufacturers on their end sometimes try to solve this problem by coming up with a discount price to resellers, which gives a reseller greater control over the prices they charge their customers.

A reseller, on the other hand, has little to no control over the quality of features of their product, and have to rely on their manufacturer to adjust to changing customer requirements.

Partnering With Vendors

Sometimes, value-added reseller firms are known to work directly with an IT vendor, while small VARs, in particular, may discover that some vendors will only sell to them via a two-tier model. When this happens, a VAR will source products via a distribution partner. There are also other vendors who sell through distributors, so VARs must purchase products through the two-tier model irrespective of the size.

In order to work with vendors, reseller partners will have to become authorized and meet a set of requirements.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3kX3RMv

Differences Between Hong Kong And China: What Could It Be?

When it comes to the issue of Hong Kong Vs. China, it is a known fact that people from Hong Kong see themselves as different from the people of mainland China, although the independently administered city is meant to be absorbed fully by China in 2047.

Hong Kong stands as one of China’s semi-autonomous regions. Which operates under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle. Which was laid out in the Sino-British Declaration of 1984. China experienced several seismic changes throughout the 20^th century. From the fall of the Qing dynasty to the Chinese Civil War. Hong Kong, a British crown colony from 1843 until 1997 was largely shielded from these upheavals. Owing to this, there are a number of distinct cultures. And social discrepancies between the two territories.

Hong Kong Vs. China: What’s the Difference?

Hong Kong

The root of Hong Kong’s separation from the mainland dates back to the Opium Wars. Between Great Britain and China (1839-1860). During these military and trade clashes, China was mandated to cede Hong Kong Island. Also a part of Kowloon to Great Britain in perpetuity.  And in 1898, Britain negotiated a major land expansion of the Hong Kong colony. And signed a 99-year lease with China. The said lease ended in 1997, at which time Britain returned Hong Kong to China as a Special Administrative Region (SAR). Known as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKSAR).

China

Known officially as the People’s Republic of China, China stands as the world’s most populous country, with a population of more than 1.4 billion people. This East Asian country, is governed by the Communist Party of China, which has jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities, and the SARs of both Hong Kong and Macau.

China is the country with the second-largest economy in the world, standing at $13.6 trillion, right after the United States, at $20.4 trillion. China’s economy was built on heavy industry development, which ramped up the country’s industrial and service output over the years.

Major Differences Between Hong Kong and China

Traditional Vs. Simplified Chinese

When it comes to written Chinese. Simplified characters are used in mainland China. While Hong Kong relies on traditional characters.

Simplified Chinese characters are modern inventions. Which have been promoted by the mainland Chinese government. Since the 1950s in a bid to increase literacy. Simplified Chinese is based on traditional characters. Even though they have been adapted so that they contain fewer strokes. Theoretically making them easier to learn.

Cultural Superstitions

Even though according to many Hong Kong is seen as being more ‘Westernized’ than mainland China, it is believed that Hongkongers tend to be more superstitious than mainland Chinese. Ranging from belief in feng shui to regular temple attendance to folk village festivals, Hong Kong retains many traditional beliefs and practices which may not be that important for those in mainland China.

During the revolutionary fervor of the 20^th century. Mainland Chinese intellectuals were seen to reject Confucian ideas.  Feudal society as well as folk superstitions. Many traditional customs got outright ban during the cultural revolution. Because of modernity.

Social Media and the Internet

Hong Kong enjoys unfettered access to the internet without the need for a VPN and Hongkongers boycott Chinese social media apps and sites, except they need to conduct business or talk to friends in mainland China. WeChat stands as the most popular messaging app in Hong Kong, and Western social media sites and apps like Facebook, Gmail, Instagram, and Snapchat are also generally used in Hong Kong.

China on the other hand uses the microblogging site like Weibo and the social media app WeChat more. These microblogging sites have their own separate internet ecosystem which is dubbed the ‘Great Firewall’, which the Chinese government employs in regulating online communication. To get access to blocked foreign sites like Facebook and Google from mainland China, you are to use a virtual private network (VPN).

Prevalence of English

In Hong Kong, it is very easy for those who speak English to get around. This is because, all street signs, official documents and government services, and most restaurants menus and websites, are bilingual. Additionally, local schools in Hong Kong maintain a relatively high standard of English instruction, and many middle and upper crust Hongkongers attend university abroad in countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, or Canada. China, on the other hand, does not have proficient English speakers in everyday life. If you plan on staying in China for more than a brief amount of time, then you have to learn a bit of Mandarin.

Cantonese vs. Mandarin

Hong Kong’s official languages are Chinese and English. Practically, ‘Chinese’ literally means ‘Cantonese’. Which is a southern Chinese language. That is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin. ‘Unintelligible’ here implies that Cantonese as it’s spoken. What Hongkongers write is usually perfectly legible to mainland Chinese people if they familiarize themselves. Sufficiently with traditional Chinese script.

The official language of China is Modern Standard Mandarin. Based on the Beijing dialect, Mandarin was adopted as a common national language in 1955, and all mainland China schools teach in Mandarin. However, many Chinese people use a regional language or dialect at home.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/34SyAom

Contacting the Social Security Administration: A Quick How-To

To know all about the rules that govern your social security benefits and get a clearer interpretation of the tons of explanations in the agency’s Program Operations Manual System (POMS), you will have to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA).

What is the Social Security Administration?

A Social Security Administration is a body that assigns social security numbers, and one that is also in charge of administering the Social Supplemental Security Income program for the aged, blind, and disabled.

Here we bring the various mediums you can use in contacting the social security administration:

Contacting Social Security Online

The Social Security website is quite easy to use. And is written in plain simple English. And provides almost all the services that you need. Visiting the ‘What You Can Do Online Page’, helps you view a list of the online services. Here, you will notice that you can apply for benefits. Get a copy of your statement, appeal a decision by Social Security officials. As well as get estimates of your future benefits. And Medicare services, amongst other things. On each heading on this page. You will find a drop-down menu that points you in the right direction. Depending on your specific needs.

The websites have certain hours of operation during which you can conduct business. And the hours are very extensive.

Contacting Social Security in Person

If you are unable to resolve your problem. Or can’t find the information you need on the website or over the phone. When the social security offices are reopened. You can visit one of the field offices. To do this, you can use the Social Security Office Locator offered by the website. Which works through zip code in locating an office. You will also need to visit an office if you want to request a Social Security card. Or update certain kinds of details.

However, note that an appointment could take weeks. Or more than a month to get one. You can also just go straight to the office, but note that you’ll probably have to wait. For more than a couple of hours to be seen. Also, SSA employees are extremely busy, and may also not offer you the advice you need. On how to maximize your benefits.

Contacting Social Security by Phone

If the website does not address your question. You may need to call. However, social security does not publish the phone numbers of most local offices. Thus you may have to call the main number at 1-800-772-1213. Also even if you have the number of your local office, you’ll probably want to start with the SSA’s automated system. When you call, you can have the access to many services. Like requesting a benefit verification letter and/or statement of your benefits, inquire about the status of a claim, apply for a replacement card, find the address of your local office as well as to conduct some business related to Medicare.

In case the automated system is not enough, you can speak to a representative between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Monday – Friday.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/386ot1d

SPEEDING UP AND RESETTING THE SAFARI BROWSER

Safari is typically speedy and dependable. There are a few instances however when the Safari browser can be slow. This may be due to a faulty connection, too much cache present, the presence of a large number of extensions, plug-ins, cookies, and other factors. Restoring default settings for Safari and thus speeding up its browser involves disabling such extensions and plug-ins, clearing cache, clearing all web page and browsing history, removing all cookies, website data, recent searches, and lists of downloads.

Clearing Web Page History

To clear web page history:

1. Firstly, Select History and move to Clear History and Website Data. You can clear all history by selecting the Clear History button in the pop-up.
2. Secondly, Select a value from the Clear drop-down box to clear history for a particular period
3. Move to History, go to Show History and select the website you want to clear. Press Delete to clear the particular website.

Disabling Extensions

Extensions can cause issues with your Safari browser performance, especially when the extensions are large in numbers. Such extensions could even end up competing among themselves. Completely removing such unused extensions entail:

1. Firstly, Go to Safari and choose Preferences
2. Select the Extensions tab
3. Deselect an unused extension by removing the Check from the box next to it. Extensions are normally listed in the left panel
4. Highlight a chosen extension and tap the Uninstall button to completely remove it.

Disabling Plug-ins

Too many Plug-ins tend to consume much space in Safari and can potentially slow it down. Disabling such plug-ins involve:

1. Firstly, Choose Safari and go to Preferences
2. Click the website tab
3. Check for the Plug-in at the bottom of the left panel
4. Deselect any unused plug-in by removing the check-in from the box next to it.

Deleting Browsing History

Safari keeps a history of all web pages viewed, allowing you to view such pages sometime later even if you forgot to bookmark them. However, for persons who visit lots of pages a day, storing such pages could become cumbersome and can start weighing down on the browser’s speed. To delete History:

1. Firstly, Select History
2. Select All History from the dropdown menu next to Clear
3. Then, Choose Clear History.

Deleting Cache

All web pages viewed are basically stored in a local cache. This helps to quickly visit such pages again. As the cache increases, it tends to slow down the Safari browser. To delete Safari cache, we do the following:

1. Open Safari
2. Secondly, Open Preferences under the Safari menu
3. Click the Privacy tab
4. Select Manage Website Data
5. Then, click Remove All
6. A warning message appears. Click Remove Now to clear the cache and cookies
7. Lastly, Select Done to close the window.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/34CFgqA