This email will save you $149 per year!

I periodically hear on the radio or see advertisements offering to "prevent home title fraud".  For instance, Newt Gingrich endorses a company called Home Title Lock which for "only" $14.99 a month or $149.00 a year will guard you against title fraud, which that company defines as:  

"Title Fraud:

When someone steals the title or deed of your home for financial gain.

Thieves simply change ownership of your home from YOU to THEM. Then they TAKE OUT LOANS on your home and just disappear - leaving YOU with the payments and a mountain of legal bills."

Well, there is such a thing as title fraud, although if you are a victim of that type of fraud, call me and it should be fixable.  

However, at least Stearns County will let you sign up for a similar service for free!  Here is a clip from their website:

"Real estate and mortgage fraud are growing crimes in America today. Land Notification alerts help property owners prevent fraud by providing them with information about documents being recorded against their name, business, or property. Each time there is recording activity on a specific property or name, an email is generated, notifying the appropriate person of this activity.

This service is a great opportunity for property owners of Stearns County to use. It is a free service that allows you to monitor and protect your most valuable assets.

How It Works....
The Land Notification System gives you the ability to monitor personal or business names on records related to your property. You can create one or more alerts that are triggered when real estate records are recorded with Stearns County for names identified in the alert.

When an alert is generated, an electronic notice will be sent to the email address you provided at the time you registered for the service. This email will contain more information about the activity and will include contact information for Stearns County Recording Services. Once you have registered, the system will perform a search on your name after a real estate document has been verified and recorded by this department. Please understand, when subscribing for this service, common names like "John Smith" may produce many results.

Things to Know....

What do I need to sign up for this free service?
You will need an email account with Google or Yahoo to sign up for Land Notification alerts.

Will I receive unwanted emails?
You will receive an email only when a document with the name you provided is recorded in the official real estate records. You can unsubscribe to the service at any time."

Don't make let collectors pressure you into bad decisions about debt

When you are in financial trouble, take a deep breath and step back and think about your overall situation.

I often meet with people who have let "important debt" go unpaid because of pressure from collectors.  What is "important debt"?  It is debt which can hurt you if you don't pay it.

If you don't pay your rent, your landlord can evict you.

If you don't pay your mortgage, your mortgage lender can foreclose on you and evict you.

(At present, there are rules about eviction and foreclosures, due to Covid, but eventually we will get back to normal).

If you don't pay your car loan, your car lender can repossess your car.

If you don't pay your utility company, it can turn off your heat or lights.  (And yes, there is the cold-weather rule, but spring eventually comes!)

So, these are important debts.

Debts that are much less important include credit cards.

The reason that these credit cards are less important is that they can do much less to you.  

Yes, they can sue you and get a perfectly valid judgment against you.  But what can they do with the judgment?  They can take your non-exempt assets.

Well, what are your non-exempt assets?  

Your home is protected, generally up to $420,000.00 of equity and 160 acres in size.

One car is protected, up to $5,000.00 of equity.

Your household goods and clothing are protected, up to about $11,000.00.

Your IRA is protected up to at least $75,000.00 (much, much more in bankruptcy).

Now, it is true that a creditor with a judgment can try to take a portion of your paycheck -- one-fourth or the amount over $403.20 per week, whichever is less for the creditor and more for you)  

But a credit card judgment cannot take your exempt home, your exempt car, your exempt household goods, your exempt IRA.

A collector may threaten suit, but threats don't mean that the suit will invariably happen.  And even when suit does happen, we have time to respond to the claim.  But if the collector can pressure you into not paying an important bill in order to avoid a suit that may never come, and if use the money to pay his credit card claim instead of an important bill, the collector may put you onto the slippery slope to losing your house.

Yes, it's good to keep a good credit score.  But it's better to have a place to live.

If you are having to choose which bills to pay, give me a call at 320-252-4473 to talk about some of your options.

Sam Calvert