CCCS of Buffalo - Dare to be Debt Free

CCCS Announces Major Updates to New Student Loan Forgiveness Program CCCS Operates the Only Local Student Loan Counseling Program Available in WNY Region Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) today announced more updates in the world of Student Loans and Loan Forgiveness. Last month, CCCS detailed major, long awaited changes to student loan forgiveness, the most important of which was: For those earning less than $125,000 a year—or couples with incomes under $250,000--up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt will be forgiven . If individuals used Pell grants to attend college (which are reserved for students with greatest financial need), up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt will be forgiven.  This came on the heels of the overhaul of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness ( PSLF ) Program, where significant changes enabled hundreds of thousands of loan recipients to access loan forgiveness.   Launched in 2007, the PSLF was designed to encoura...

  Millions of Americans have waited eagerly over these past two and a half years for student loan forgiveness. This week, President Biden issued the first of his student loan forgiveness plans. For those earning less than $125,000 a year—or couples with incomes under $250,000--up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt will be forgiven . If individuals used Pell grants to attend college (which are reserved for students with greatest financial need), up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt will be forgiven.   President Biden also this week officially extended the “ student loan payment pause” until December 31 st , 2022. Interest rates will remain at 0% until repayments start in January 2023. Biden states that this will be the last extension for student loan payments.   Mandatory student loan payments as well as interest accrual have been “on pause” since March 13, 2020, the beginning of the pandemic. 98.8% of borrowers did not make payments during this time perio...

  At Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Buffalo (CCCS), we are encouraged to see recent media attention highlighting the dubious and predatory practices of local debt collection companies. The New York State Attorney General herself visited Western New York last month to call for increased regulation of the debt collection industry. It is extremely heartening to see how she is standing up for New York residents who are often victimized (sometimes repeatedly) by dodgy businesses with underhanded motives. CCCS has sought reform for many years — and heard hundreds of tragic horror stories — yet as critical as it is, we have been unable to attract the proper attention or receive the necessary support for this issue until now. Debt collection companies are commonly problematic — in certain need of increased control — but the issue is much larger than just that. The average person has little understanding of the world of debt, credit and credit repair. It is no wonder that an entire w...

Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced the cancellation of $5.8 billion in federal student loans for 560,000 individuals who borrowed to attend schools owned by Corinthian Colleges, the for-profit college conglomerate that is now defunct. Corinthian was a notorious repeat offender that defrauded its students and the public over many years. This loan cancellation would not have been possible without the tenacity of so many individual student loan borrowers harmed by Corinthian’s tactics. Many of them came forward to law enforcement agencies and regulators to detail systemic abuses. Others even had the courage to make their stories public to urge government authorities to act, rather than sitting on the sidelines. Over the last decade, I had the opportunity to speak with many of them to learn about Corinthian’s conduct. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state attorney general actively pursued Corinthian for its misconduct. The CFPB filed a lawsuit in 2014, obt...

 From time to time we like to share some of our staff's suggestions on the best ways to manage your budget. Today we hear from Robby Dunn, Vice President of Counseling here at CCCS of Buffalo! Robby’s Five Financial Budgeting Tips Create a balanced budget - This may seem like very simple personal financial advice, but the road to recovery from debt or the accumulation of savings begins with a balanced budget. This means that you have more money coming in than that is going out every month. Track your income and expenses for 30 days and find out if your budget is balanced!   Consider viewing savings as an expense – Is savings an expense? Many individuals may argue that it is not as it is not necessary to save at all times, or every month. But, if you are saving, what are you putting those funds aside for? Home and Auto repairs? Vacation and gifts? Medical expenses? Those all sound like future expenses to us, and imp...

  CCCS Announces that Most Medical Debt to Be Removed from Credit Reports;  Student Loan Repayments Extended Until August 31 st   In a recent and welcomed policy shift, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion announced that nearly 70% of current medical debt will be removed from credit reports, beginning this summer. Millions of Americans are saddled with medical debt and the problem continues to grow. Studies from 2021 found that 37% of Americans had medical debt, while 23% did not currently have medical debt but had it in the past. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) estimates that at this moment, some $88 billion in medical bills sits on 43 million credit reports. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion Medical maintain reports on more than 200 million people in the U.S. Often, medical bills can be exorbitant and end up on credit reports, ruining credit scores and preventing people from accessing mortgages, car loans and even employment. Many of these people ha...