Free Republic

A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China. Analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia — found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. In Kenya, the government has held back paychecks to thousands of civil service workers to save cash to pay...

A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China. An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia — found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. And it’s draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving...

Although the Biden administration’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan and the legal troubles around it have gotten the most headlines, the U.S. Department of Education has already canceled more than $66 billion in education debt under existing programs. More than 2 million borrowers, including defrauded students and those who work in the public sector, have benefited from that relief over the last few years. $42 billion in debt canceled for public servants. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program allows certain nonprofit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 10 years, or 120 payments. A number of...

For a man who likes to play an unctuous super genius in commercials when he’s pinging on more accomplished governors for unsophisticated, lo-information audiences (no doubt on the state’s dime)… …as California’s GOVERNOR, Gavin Newsom in the flesh is a walking disaster zone.Has California solved all its problems? Is that why our Governor @GavinNewsom starts his day by attacking Republican-governed states? There are teachers on strike, water flooding farms, electricity shortages, and a massive budget deficit. Got anything else to do today, Governor? https://t.co/LN4iHDMW2o— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) May 8, 2023The population outflow from the state remains unabated.California’s population continued to...

Mortgage fees are changing under the new rules from the Biden administration’s Federal Housing Finance Agency. Because some borrowers with good credit may end up paying higher fees compared to those with lower credit scores, the change has sparked a discussion. Among the critics is Peter Schiff, CEO and chief global strategist at Euro Pacific Capital. During an interview posted on Schiff’s YouTube channel, the host shared his intention to buy a home but voiced concerns about getting punished if the plan goes through because of his good credit score. Schiff’s response was, “Just miss a few payments, screw up...

A new federal Biden rule will force homebuyers with good credit scores to pay higher mortgage rates and fees so they can subsidize people with riskier credit ratings who want to buy a home. It’s wealth redistribution and will be a disaster since risky homebuyers usually default. The feds will also temporarily ignore lenders’ debt-to-income ratio. It determines if homebuyers can afford to pay their mortgages each month. The fees are allegedly minimal for now, but you know how that goes. The fee changes will go into effect May 1 as part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s push for...

California’s Dream For All Shared Appreciation loan program, designed to help make home-buying easier for prospective buyers in the Golden State, is already running out of money. The program, which launched on March 27, was available to help first-time homebuyers with down payments. The state has already fully allocated the estimated $300 million set aside for the program as of April 7. To qualify for the program, households must have earned less than the CalHFA’s income limit, which vary by county and range from $159,000 to $300,000. The average price of a home in California is $718,687, according to Zillow...

American banks experienced a historic contraction in the final two weeks of March, greater than even during the 2008 financial crisis, in the clearest indication yet that credit conditions are tightening as a result of deteriorating economic conditions.According to Federal Reserve data dating back to 1973, commercial bank lending saw a drop of nearly $105 billion in the two weeks ending March 29th. The final week saw a decrease of over $45 billion, which can be attributed primarily to a decline in small banks’ loan offerings.This reduction in lending has particularly impacted real estate, commercial, and industrial loans. The most...

Some 40 million people have had their student-debt payments paused because the government thinks they need the help. But one big financial technology company, which refinances student loans, disapproves of the public policy and wants the payments resumed immediately to help its bottom line. SoFi Technologies, a financial technology company involved in the student loan refinancing business, is suing the Department of Education over the student loan payment pause. In a suit filed in federal court late last week, the company alleges that the latest extension of the COVID-era pause on student loan payments, interest and collections “is unlawful on...

Three women were arrested Friday for the alleged theft of nearly $1 million in federal student loans. The suspects were identified as Nyisha Ramsey, 43, of Lancaster, Dionne Ramsey, 36, of Las Vegas, (Nyisha’s sister) and Sharyn Barney, 62, of Lancaster, (Nyisha’s mother-in-law), by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The three women are accused of obtaining around $980,000 in student loans using stolen identities, some of which belonged to California inmates, authorities said. From January 2012 to August 2017, the suspects obtained stolen names and Social Security numbers to fraudulently enroll in an Orange County community college. The suspects posed as...

Teachers’ union president Randi Weingarten got attention on social media for her emotional display outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday. A Student Debt Crisis Center’s rally was held in response to the Supreme Court listening to a pair of challenges to President Biden’s plan to forgive $10,000 in federal student loans for individuals making less than $125,000 per year or households earning less than $250,000 annually. Weingarten broke down during her speech. "And frankly, and this is what really pisses me off," Weingarten said. "During the pandemic, we understood that small businesses were hurting, and we helped them, and it...

A pandemic watchdog group identified nearly 70,000 “questionable” Social Security numbers that were used to obtain $5.4 billion in pandemic-related federal loans. The group, The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, issued the report on Monday that analyzed information from more than 33 million applications from the COVID-19 Emergency Injury Disaster Loans and the Paycheck Protection Program. The committee found that more than 221,000 Social Security numbers used on applications were “not issued” by the federal government, or did not match the applicants name or date of birth. Despite the risk for identity fraud, the federal government awarded nearly 70,000 of the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is moving forward with a proposal that would lower student debt payments for millions of Americans now and in the future, offering a new route to repay federal loans under far more generous terms. If it’s finalized, the proposal would give a major overhaul to income-driven repayment plans — one of several payment options offered by the federal government. The resulting plan would have lower monthly payments, an easier path to forgiveness and a promise that unpaid interest will not be added to a borrower’s loan balance. Under existing plans, monthly payments are capped...

The federal government has reminded student-loan borrowers that they don't need to worry about repaying their debt in January. While lawsuits against President Joe Biden's targeted loan relief are pending in court, the Department of Education pointed out that borrowers can hold off on making payments for a little while longer. "You will NOT have to make your loan payments that would have been restarted in January," the Education Department said in an email sent to borrowers Friday morning. "We don't think it is right to ask borrowers to pay on loans they wouldn't have to pay were it not...

Joy Morales-Bartlett could finally see an end to her decadeslong student debt by the end of this year. But her ability to pay it off now rests in the hands of the Supreme Court. More than 40 million borrowers like Morales-Bartlett were eligible to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt under President Joe Biden’s one-time student loan forgiveness plan. But instead, her debt and that of roughly 16 million applicants who were also approved may never be forgiven if the Supreme Court sides with lower courts in Republican-led states that blocked the program. A ruling is expected...

The most prominent purveyor of homewashing is the massive government-sponsored enterprise known as the Federal Home Loan Banks. There are 11 regional FHLBs from Boston to San Francisco and points in between. They and their 6,500 member institutions follow a simple business model. The FHLBs borrow at a deep discount due to their government status. They then pass part of the government subsidized discount on to their members in the form of low-cost advances. As of Sept. 30, the FHLBs had over $1 trillion in taxpayer-subsidized debt outstanding. Subsidized advances to members stood at $655 billion, an 86 percent increase...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration will extend the pause on federal student loan payments while the White House fights a legal battle to save his plan to cancel portions of the debt. “It isn’t fair to ask tens of millions of borrowers eligible for relief to resume their student debt payments while the courts consider the lawsuit,” Biden said in a video posted on Twitter. The moratorium was slated to expire Jan. 1, a date that Biden set before his debt cancellation plan stalled in the face of legal challenges from conservative opponents. Now...

The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a nationwide injunction pending appeal against President Joe Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness program Monday, adding to previous legal action blocking the plan. The program seeks to forgive $10,000 in federal student loan debt for individuals with incomes under $125,000 and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, with the Biden administration claiming it had the authority to institute the program under the HEROES Act of 2003 and an emergency situation sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina had filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration...

'Biden got what he wanted and they got played for fools,' tweeted one user Twitter users reacted to the news that a federal judge in Texas blocked President Biden’s student loan handout. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman ruled that Biden’s executive action was unconstitutional because Congress didn’t approve the sweeping plan. In fact, the judge claimed it was one of the largest executive branch overreaches in the "history of the United States." Liberals on the platform expressed outrage over the ruling, while conservatives ridiculed Biden’s entire handout strategy as being a cynical ploy to garner Democratic votes for...

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – A Florida man has been arrested after committing multiple fraudulent transactions while pretending to be an Irish national. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement became aware of a man using the pseudonym “Declan Quinn” to commit fraud in February. Following an investigation, agents found that “Quinn” had won the position of HOA Board of Directors presidents at his Washington County neighborhood. He also used his standing in his community to obtain a $17,000 loan fraudulently. The fake name was even used to sign a notarized promissory note stating he would repay the loan, which he failed...