Make sure you know how the deed to your marital home lists the title
When a married couple goes to the escrow office to sign the documents to their new home, they are thinking about many things. Their minds are swirling with thoughts of the mortgage payment, furniture placement, the moving company, landscaping, area schools, etc. The last thing they are thinking about is how the deed to their new home should list the title. Who cares as long as it has both of ...
Lisa Spiwak named one of the 25 most influential women in collections by the collection industry for 2016
The industry standard Collection Advisor has named Lisa Spiwak among their 25 most influential women in collections! (Collection Advisor, September/October 2016 issue). Congratulations to Lisa on this prestiguous award! Click the link above to view the Collection Advisor magazine award to Lisa. As Lisa states in the magazine: "For 30 years I have gotten to be a hero to my clients with unpaid receivables and defaulted loans which are seriously ...
Landlords learn to repurpose their malls
This is a season of discontent for retailers. There doesn’t seem to be a week that goes by without a national chain closing stores or filing for bankruptcy protection. Most recently, we lost Sport Chalet. Before that, it was Sports Authority, Sears, Fresh & Easy, Office Depot, Radio Shack, Staples, Abercrombie & Fitch, Barnes & Noble and JC Penny. Shopping malls have steadily been in decline since consumers discovered online ...
Life Just Got a Whole Lot Richer For ‘Unlicensed’ Brokers in California
Reprinted from NEFA Newsline (Mar/Apr 2016), p. 43-44 Attorney Lisa Spiwak notes that the signing into law of Senate Bill 197 in California will, in essence, open up volumes of new business for non-licensed brokers and small businesses searching for viable lending alternatives to the big banks. On October 10, 2015 Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 197which now allows California State Lenders to pay referral fees to individuals ...
Future of privacy at stake in Apple v. FBI
A highly contentious legal battle is brewing between Apple and the FBI. The FBI has been trying to hack into the encrypted iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters in the Dec. 2 attack that killed 14 people. The Apple iPhone, which was actually issued by the county of San Bernardino, has encryption software on it that completely wipes out any data on the phone after ...
Low gas prices great for consumers but not necessarily for the economy
At close to $33 per barrel, crude oil has dropped more than 60 percent since June 2014 - which is great for our economy because it significantly reduces the average price of gas and heating oil. Regular gasoline now averages $2 per gallon nationally. This translates to cheaper costs to transport goods and run your household. It means that many Americans, who have not seen a recent wage increase, will ...
