Student Loan Advice

I signed up for a really cool website about two weeks ago called Upromise.com. Their services are only available to those people who have student loans with Sallie Mae. I think I have been getting Upromises' solicitation emails for several years, but I always dismissed them as spam. Well, I finally took the time to look into it, and I am really glad that I did. I could have made hundreds of dollars already if I would have signed up several years ago. If you have Sallie Mae loans, look into it. If you don't, the rest of this post may only make you angry.

Upromise is a portal through which you can access nearly every single Internet shopping site available. There are literally thousands of websites linked to Upromise including online stores such as Amazon and Ebay, travel sites such as Travelocity as Expedia, department stores such as JC Penney and Macy's, retailers such as Target and Kohls, electronics stores such as Best Buy and Apple, etc. Literally thousands of online shopping sites.

Upromise also links directly to your student loan account at Sallie Mae. Every time that you shop on Upromise, between 2-8% of your purchase prices is deposited into your Upromise account. Then, once per month the money from that account is applied towards your student loan balance. Your Sallie Mae statements then show two payments every month, your payment and the Upromise payment.

The names of all of the stores are listed on the site. Next to each link is a number between 2% and 8%, so you know before you buy exactly how much of a refund you will get back. This is helpful because you can compare items between stores. Even if the same item is priced the same at Best Buy and at Circuit City, one of those stores might offer you 5% cash back, while the other one only gives you 2% through Upromise.

We just signed up a couple of weeks ago. Based upon the rate that we are going, and without buying anything extravagant, just making normal online purchases that we would make anyways, we will have close to $200-$300 bucks applied to student loans by the end of the year.

Look into it.

Former Major Leaguer Fails BAID Test 4 Times

I'm sure that most of you know that Illinois' DUI laws were amended effective January 1, 2009 to provide for monitoring device driving permits (MDDPs) in place of judicial driving permits (JDPs). As part of the MDDP process, a first time DUI offender with a statutory summary suspension can drive, but only after the installation of a breath interlock ignition device (BAID).

BAIDs are new in Illinois, but not in Florida where former Major Leaguer Jim Leyritz was recently arrested because his BAID registered alcohol consumption on four separate occasions.

Leyritz is currently awaiting trial on one count of DUI manslaughter and one count of DUI property damage. His trial is tentatively set for May 25, 2009. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Authorities allege that Leyritz was drunk on Dec. 28, 2007 when he ran a red light in his SUV and crashed into another car, killing the other driver. Authorities said toxicology reports indicated that Leyritz's blood-alcohol level three hours after the crash was 0.14 percent. His license was also suspended at the time of that crash.

A condition of his bond is that he consume no alcohol. After his BAID registered positive for alcohol on four separate occasions, a judge revoked his bond and he was arrested. No word on whether he will remain jailed until his trial.

Publicity

The Northern Law Blog has been added to the Justia.com Blawg Registry. This is a comprehensive directory of almost every legal blog out there. Hopefully this will bring us some more readers (and contributors).

http://blawgsearch.justia.com/

Lock him up.

Last week I wrote about Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. My comment that his December refusal to execute on eviction orders was a publicity stunt elicited some of the strongest reactions yet from the readers of this blog.

Well, today I opened the Chicago Tribune and saw that Chicago Police Superindendent ("Judge & Jury") Jody Weis has put himself into the same spotlight for his intentional refusal to obey a court's order.

Federal Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez had ordered Weis to turnover by this Friday a list of all Chicago police officers who have had multiple citizen complaints made against them. This order was entered during the course of a lawsuit which alleged that a Chicago police officer beat two children at a Beverly playground in 2007.

Weis indicated today that he will not be complying with the court's order because naming the officers in question would "hurt department morale"!!! These guys are menaces to the justice system of Illinois.

I would really like to hear the opinions of the readers again on this one. Should he or shouldn't he be jailed for contempt of the federal court?

Extreme Debt Collection Tactics

Porter County, Indiana police report that someone broke into the home of Signature Construction Company's president Bryan Siewin and spray painted "Pay your bills" on the walls. The intruders also caused $70,000 damage to the home; stole five guns and a safe containing jewelry and $15,000 cash; and stole a 2007 BMW X5 sport utility vehicle that was parked in the garage. The vehicle was eventually found floating down the Iroquois River, about 40 feet from the riverbank, with its lights activated and the keys in the ignition.

Someone is in a whole lot of trouble. I wonder how long it will be before they catch the vigilante creditor. Especially once he starts trying to sell the stolen guns. But I also wonder about the circumstances of Mr. Siewin's bills. Why was he keeping his money in a safe in his house rather than the bank? And how could he afford a $40,000 SUV if he did in fact have substantial outstanding debts? Looks to me like we might have two people in the wrong once the IRS gets involved.

Article courtesy of the Northwest Indiana Times.

Fees capped at $925 per hour in Tribune bankruptcy

Bloomberg reports that U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Carey capped Sidley Austin's legal fees at $925 per hour for their work on the Chicago Tribune bankruptcy case.

Certain lawyers working on that case had originally requested $1,100 per hour, but the Judge capped them at $925.

That is outrageous. How is anyone worth $1,100 per hour? Except heart surgeons. Under the right circumstances, I would pay a good heart surgeon $1,100 for an hour of his time.

Disobeying Evictions?

The New York Times reports that a broad civil disobedience campaign is growing among homeowners, community leaders, and some politicians throughout the Upper Northeast to support families in their attempts to refuse court orders to vacate their homes following sheriffs' sales.

Organizers have been creating vast networks via text messages, web sites, and phone trees to alert neighboring homeowners, and the media, when an eviction has been scheduled and when deputies are on the way. Volunteers will summon friends and relatives to converge at the site to occupy the house in an attempt to block the eviction. People have already started to attach themselves to their porches to attract attention. A central theme in these protests seems to be a willingness to be arrested. Some police departments are arresting people and some are not.

The Times links to the websites of several of these organizations. They appear organized and very well funded. Over the past several weekends, these campaigns have drawn nearly 500 participants to separate protests in New York and four other cities. Certain people speculate that the number of volunteers will reach into the tens of thousands within weeks. Sit-ins are scheduled in upcoming weeks for New York, Los Angeles, and more than twenty other cities across the country hardest hit by foreclosures.

This movement can't be good for the economy at large. If banks cannot repossess their collateral, how are they supposed to survive. We can't continue to bail out the banks forever. Eventually they will have to start making their own money in order for the economy to rebound.

County sheriffs need to get creative in thier attempts to combat this civil disobedience movement. They can't arrest everybody, but they can't arrest nobody either, like the Sheriff of Cook County did (or did not do) in a recent publicity stunt. It is not up to local sheriffs to decide which court orders to obey and which ones to disobey.

Maybe the banks should dispatch hundreds of volunteers out to these people's doors on the first of every month to demand mortgage payments.

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Welcome DJ Evans!!

I am once again pleased to announce the addition of another contributor to our site. DJ Evans practices at the Woodruff & Johnson Injury Law Offices in Aurora.

DJ is an accomplished writer. In addition to serving as the Lead Articles Editor on the NIU Law Review, his articles have been published in the DuPage County Bar Journal and the Trial Briefs newsletter of the ISBA's Section on Civil Practice and Procedure.

This is a great addition to the Northern Law Blog. We look forward to many interesting and informative posts from DJ.