Apparently the fee does not apply to ATM withdrawals. A single purchase will  trigger the $5 fee for that month.

Consumers agree that they do not like the fees. However, the fees are not so unsavory that they are planning to leave Bank of America.

Instead, we are seeing another trend. Many customers including this author are making the switch to an alternate account with another institution.

If Bank of America does not waive my fee on a monthly basis, then I will simply stop using it for debit transactions. My credit union does not assess any fees, which makes it a perfect switch.

Another expected trend is one that Bank of America and others are definitely in favor of. They believe that customers will begin using their Bank of America credit cards instead of their debit cards. This benefits the bank, since this opens the door to finance charges that were not possible when customers depended on their debit cards.

For more information about the new fees, Debtors Unite is keeping up with the developments on the $5 monthly debit card fee at Bank of America. They are also following the regulatory unrest over the fees which Senator Durbin is personally monitoring.

Townsends Hotline: 800-319-7254

The Townsends Hotline is staffed by the Accredited Financial Counselors at Vision Credit Education, Inc (Vision Credit). Vision Credit is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity organized to provide financial education for public benefit. The initiative is made possible by the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center and Vision Credit.

Information Sessions

Information sessions will be held in order to provide additional feedback on the Townsends situation. Those who have been directly affected by its closure, either as employees or small businesses whose contract with Townsends was cancelled, are encouraged to attend these sessions. The times, dates and location of information sessions are as follows:

• August 15, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. Townsend Growers sponsoring meeting at Best Foods Cafeteria, 220 E. 11th Street, Siler City, NC 27344
• August 17, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. Randolph County Farm Bureau sponsoring meeting at Bethel Friends Church, 2519 Bethel Friends Road, Asheboro, NC 27205
• August 25, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. Meeting at Carolina Stockyards (Siler City), 260 Stockyard Road, Staley, NC 27355
• August 30, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. Harnett County Cooperative Extension Center is hosting a meeting, 126 Alexander Drive, Lillington, NC 27546
• September 8, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. Meeting at Carolina Stockyards, Farming Alternatives: Forage based enterprises, livestock and horse related enterprises: Elena Eller – NCCES; Landscape and nursery alternatives: Al Cooke – NCCES; Value-added products and marketing online:  Mary Helen Ferguson – NCCES; Vegetable and fruit production alternatives, Area Farmer’s markets: Debbie Roos – NCCES; NC Cooperative Extension family and consumer resources: Phyllis Smith – NCCES; N.C. Housing Finance Agency – Chris Bishop; General legal considerations and tax issues: Ted Feitshans – NCSU, Guido van der Hoven – NCSU

• September 29, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. Meeting at Carolina Stockyards, Situational updates: Kim Decker, Marketing Division – NCDA; Setting up home/business websites:  Brandon King – NCSU; Exit and reorganization options, voluntary liquidation, workouts outside of bankruptcy and various bankruptcy options: Ted Feitshans – NCSU, Guido van der Hoven – NCSU; Aquacultural enterprises: Speaker TBA

• October 4, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. Meeting at Carolina Stockyards, Resources available: Holly Coleman – Chatham County Health Department; Sandy Coletta – Chatham County Division of Social Service; Ashley Brewer – Chatham County Piedmont Health Services; Phyllis Smith –NCCES; Beginning a new business: Gary Kibler – NC Small Business Center, Pittsboro; Locating new employment: Geraldine Brady – Chatham County Employment Security Commission

• October 27, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. Meeting at Carolina Stockyards; Topics and speakers to be announced

We will specifically address the series of events that led to the closure as well as the types of intervention that officials are working on as an attempt to keep the plant and its related businesses afloat. You will have an opportunity to ask questions and receive any recent updates. We will of course keep communications channels open in order to provide up-to-date information as new developments occur.

Financial Counseling

Vision Credit will be on hand to schedule private counseling sessions. Financial counseling sessions are provided specifically to farmers who have lost contracts with Townsends, Inc. due to the plant closures. These sessions are confidential and will be held where it is convenient for you. Financial counseling is also available via the toll-free Townsends hotline at 800-319-7254.

It is recommended that you gather your financial details, including information on your largest assets, outstanding debt and monthly living costs. We will be on hand to help you assess your situation, review the feasibility of individual options for meeting your immediate financial needs and help you transition out of the current crisis.

We are prepared to provide updates to you as new developments occur, so we encourage you to check back frequently for new information. We realize that the Townsends closure was a shock given the recent investment and upgrades that had been made to the Siler City and Mocksville plants. Please understand that government officials and numerous state agencies are working diligently to arrange a solution.

Our goal with this financial counseling initiative is to help you proactively plan for getting through this crisis with your assets and businesses intact. If operations at the company can be restored, then we will help facilitate discussions with your lenders to keep your loans in good standing.

Additional details will be forthcoming.

Ready to Rent provides participants with the information and resources to gain approval to rent safe and affordable housing. While 15 participants have already registered for this event, there is still room for 5 more.

Instruction will include information regarding landlord rights and responsibilities as well as tenant rights and responsibilities. We will cover budgeting and savings tips. Finally, participants will learn how their credit is scored. This is an important step towards repairing credit, as they will find out which accounts to begin with. Some participants find that some accounts can be removed for free, while others discover which negative accounts they should focus on first.

The Ready to Rent workshop series also partners with area landlords who participate in the program. Wake County Supportive Housing currently links qualifying applicants with more than 80 housing communities located throughout Wake County, many of which specialize in lower income requirements, subsidized rent and second chance credit programs.

When

Monday through Thursday, April 18-21, 2011 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

Where

AA Thompson Center, 567 East Hargett Street, Raleigh, NC 27601.

Register

Preregistration is required. A $25 fee may be paid to Wake County Supportive Housing which is due along with a completed application. Please contact Sharon Gibson with Wake County Supportive Housing at 919-856-5277 to register.

Locations

Wake County Human Services, Northern Regional Center: This site is reopening for a second year in 2011 and we expect to complete at least 125 personal income tax returns. No appointment is necessary.

Martin Street Community Development Corporation: Hosted at Martin Street Baptist Church, this tax site is new for 2011. The City of Raleigh has provided matching funds for this location which is expected to complete over 100 personal income tax returns for lower income families. We expect to serve a concentration of elderly tax filers and those who are disabled. No appointment is necessary.

We again want to thank Republic Bank for providing the necessary funding to allow us to expand services to those who can often least afford to pay for tax preparation. The ability to help lower income families with relatively simple tax returns allows us to keep more money in Wake County and provide opportunities for our volunteers to donate their time and expertise.

Location

Time

6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Contact

For more information about the Ready to Rent workshop series as well as registration information for future classes, contact Sharon Gibson of Wake County Human Services at 919-856-5277.

The $14,000 grant received from our local United Way chapter provides the Wake EITC Coalition with additional funding to maintain and expand outreach for this year’s free tax preparation program. Vision Credit Education is one of several partners that provide direct services to lower income families in the Greater Raleigh area including Wake County and surrounding counties.

The grant is being used to support local marketing programs to spread the word about free tax preparation through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and AARP’s TaxAide program. Some 40,000 informational fliers are being distributed through libraries, churches, area nonprofit organizations and regional centers of Wake County Human Services. Some clients also stumble onto the coalition’s website at WakeTax.org.

The grants are also being used to provide site coordinators at some of the 16 locations that will be serving tax filers this year. Free tax locations are hosted by partners at area locations, and the service is provided by community volunteers who are trained by the Internal Revenue Service.

Vision Credit Education will be providing VITA services at two of those locations:

• Northern Regional Center/Wake County Human Services, 350 E. Holding Ave., Wake Forest, NC 27587
• Martin Street CDC, 1001 E. Martin St., Raleigh, NC 27601

For more information on obtaining free income tax assistance, call Ronnica Rothe, Program Manager at 919-338-0882.

The grant specifically targets two groups who may be underserved in downtown Raleigh. First of all, we are focusing on attracting potential tax filers who are disabled. Many disabled citizens who are very low income have no filing requirement but could benefit from having their taxes filed. These citizens are often turned away from storefront paid preparers whose heavy fees dwarf the refund that would be received. By taking advantage of free tax filing through VITA, those with disabilities are able to receive the tax credits that they are entitled to without having to pay for what is actually a fairly routine tax return.

An additional target population are those citizens who are lower income and are aged 60 and above. While many senior citizens may not feel like seniors, their income may be less than what they used to earn. Those on a fixed income really feel the pinch from tax preparation fees that can easily exceed $100 to $200. Instead, they can take advantage of VITA, which offers free income tax preparation and filing for lower income residents and senior citizens. To further expand outreach to our senior citizens, we have invited our partners at AARP who will be providing the similar TaxAide service on additional weekdays.

Here is the information for the new location:

Hours: Tuesday & Thursday from 5-8 pm.

This is the second consecutive year that IRS has lent its support to our coalition, so it really shows their commitment to helping lower income tax filers afford to be able to comply with the tax laws. In addition to grant funding, local IRS representatives provide training and material support to the volunteer led effort. VITA is a wonderful way to give back to the community, and we couldn’t do it without the generous support of the IRS and the volunteers that give so freely of their time.

The IRS grant will be used to expand outreach and increase the effectiveness of newly expanded site locations. Having a trained site coordinator who is experienced not just in tax preparation but also in volunteer recruitment and management is a real boost. It allows us to extend our programs far beyond what our small staff is able to monitor directly on a daily basis.

Vision Credit Education is an active participant and integral voice of the Wake EITC Coalition. The Wake EITC Coalition provides volunteer tax preparation and filing for lower income families located in Wake County as well as the surrounding Greater Raleigh and Triangle area. It is made up of participating organizations including the local IRS office, Vision Credit Education, Fiscal Progress, Family Resource Center of Raleigh, Wake County Human Services, United Way of the Greater Triangle, AARP, and multiple area churches and community centers.

We thank the IRS for their continued support. For more information on the Wake EITC Coalition, including free tax preparation locations and volunteer opportunities, visit waketax.org.

New clients may submit their information via the form in the right column of this page. Feel free to leave a message at 1-800-379-4720 if you would like a return call on Friday, November 12.

Lastly, if you are a veteran or active military, we would like to sincerely thank you for your service. If you know a veteran, please take a moment to thank them for their service.

• Falsely claimed to be lawyers, investigators, detectives, and mediators
• Threatened consumers with arrest, jail, and lawsuits
• Threatened to seize the assets of consumers
• Inflated the amount allegedly owed
• Attempted to collect debts from consumers not knowing if the consumer actually owed the debt
• Targeted family members of consumers, wrongfully disclosing the existence of alleged debts to family members, and attempted to collect the alleged debts from family members
• Harassed consumers through repeated and constant calls, using abusive language
• Levied unauthorized charges on the credit card accounts of consumers

Common tactics utilized by Lowinger’s debt collectors focused on calling the family members and military personnels’ commanding officers as a way to embarrass the service member and extort payment. Contacting any person other than the debtor for purposes of shaming the individual are illegal. A debt collector may only contact a family member or employer for the sole purpose of requesting contact information for the debtor, and only if the collector has not previously obtained proper contact information for the debtor. Any other information release is illegal.

Lowinger’s collectors would actually identify a service member’s commanding officer for the purpose of threatening to call, and in some cases, subsequently calling the commanding officer in order to pressure the service member to repay the debt. Unfortunately, this illegal practice has a history of being widely utilized by companies that specialize in lending and debt collections to military personnel.

To make matters worse, Lowinger held herself out to be an agent of the Department of Justice.  She threatened arrest by military police and dishonorable discharge from military service if payment was not made immediately. Additionally, she threatened loss of security clearance and court martial.

Fortunately, the filing of felony charges against Stephanie Lowinger will remove one rogue company from the much maligned debt collection industry. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been the leading force in attacking some of the worst violators of consumer protection laws. As a result of the investigation, Lowinger is facing 4 years in prison on a criminal charge plus a civil lawsuit with the purpose of shutting down her firm.