CCCS of Buffalo - Dare to be Debt Free

Have you received a call or letter demanding you pay an old debt that either you forgot about, paid off, or is simply not yours? AHH! You may be a victim of “zombie debt collection”. Zombie debts typically show up for various reasons: 1.        Sometimes they are debts that are either very old and/or no longer owed - past the statute of limitations (SOL) for legal action in your state, which is usually between three and six years.   2.       You may have forgotten about the debt or had previously settled on the debt with either the original creditor or another collection agency. 3.       The debt is a result of identity theft. 4.       You filed the debt with a bankruptcy filing and it was discharged. The biggest issue with these zombie debts is that individuals are pressured into paying the debt, which they may not even need to pay! The first step is not to acknowledge the debt, but request verification that the debt is in fact yours, and that you may be required to pay.

On October 6, 2021, the Department of Education announced an overhaul that is coming for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for federally backed student loans!  For a limited time (now through October 31, 2022), borrowers may receive credit for past payments made on their student loans that would not have otherwise qualified for PSLF.   Key parts to this announcement include: Implementing a limited PSLF waiver to count prior payments Simplifying what it means for a payment to qualify for PSLF Eliminating barriers for military service members to receive PSLF Automatically helping service members and other federal employees access PSLF Reviewing of denied PSLF applications and identifying/correcting errors in PSLF processing Improving outreach and communication with PSLF eligible borrowers Simplifying the PSLF application process Making long term improvements to PSLF through rulemaking Helpful links: Press release, fact sheet on PSLF program overhaul What borrowers