Blog Posts by Elizabeth Trotta

Student loan debt, which now exceeds credit card debt and is on pace to top $1 trillion in 2012, has become a hot button issue for November elections. President Obama took that issue through college campuses this week, pushing for, among other things, the extension of the 3.4% interest rate on federal student loans, which is set to otherwise double on July 1. That comes to a vote on Friday.

The issue is bubbling beyond rates, however, with a petition for the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 coming up on 1 million signatures. Provisions for student loan forgiveness already exist, it just requires you to meet certain criteria, for instance (from Stafford Loans):

a. Perform volunteer work
b. qualify for public service loan forgiveness
c. Perform military service
d. Teach or practice medicine in certain types of communities
e. Meet other criteria specified by the forgiveness program

That's how it stands now.

Some But Not All ...

The Student Loan Forgiveness Act, introduced by

Have we hit a housing bottom or not? Some economists say yes, and some data are pointing to improvement, but others ... not so much.

Thursday's data show some promise for the bulls with pending home sales, an indicator based on contract signings, showing a 4.1% uptick in March, according to the National Association of Realtors.



The index is now at the highest level since April 2010.

"The housing market has clearly turned the corner," says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. "Rising sales are bringing down inventory and creating much more balanced conditions around the county, which means home prices will be rising in more areas as the year progresses."

But mortgage rates aren't showing signs of budging: The average 30-year mortgage rate edged back down to 3.88% last week, according to Freddie Mac. The rate hit a recent high of 4.08% in March but has been unable to top 4% since.

[Click here to find mortgage rates in your area.]

Earlier this week, the Case Shiller Home Price index showed

Four associates of Nicolas Cosmo, the so-called mini-Madoff, were arrested on charges they pocketed $38 million for their part in his $400 million fraud. Cosmo was arrested in early 2009, just weeks after Bernard Madoff was arrested for a $50 billion scheme  considered to be the biggest financial fraud in U.S. history.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports the four were account representatives of Hauppauge-based Agape World Inc. and Agape Merchant Advance, investment companies run by Cosmo, who pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud charges in a scheme affecting more than 4,000 investors.

The recent arrests are a reminder of the danger of being had and falling victim to greed-fueled fraud. In light of that, we reached out to Legend Financial Advisors' Jim Holtzman for a reminder of the red flags to look for so you aren't had by the next mini-Madoff.

Who is Who

Who is the custodian and who is the advisor? A custodian is a third-party financial institution that holds and safeguards securities

Some unsavory debt collection practices by Accretive Health, a heavyweight in the collection of medical debts, have created quite a stir this week after being brought to the public in company documents revealed by the Minnesota attorney general.

The strategies included embedding debt collectors as employees in emergency rooms: "To patients, the debt collectors may look indistinguishable from hospital employees, may demand they pay outstanding bills and may discourage them from seeking emergency care at all, even using scripts like those in collection boiler rooms," The New York Times reported, citing documents and employees.

An Economy of Debt

The growing desperation of both the indebted and debt collectors isn't signature to the health industry. Most accounts are consumer credit card debt, but that's changing "as more success may lie with medical debt, IRS taxes, utility and cell phone bills," according to a recent report by independent market research publisher Marketdata.

There's

Netflix (NFLX) might give finicky investors more reason to buy, hold or sell with its quarterly earnings after the bell -- but analysts say it likely won't have much to do with profits.

Analysts are looking for Netflix to swing to a loss of 27 cents a share on $866 million in revenue. The key metric, however, is subscription growth. The company will likely continue to get a "free pass" on overall profitability over the next few quarters, as investors focus instead on stabilizing domestic subscription growth and continued international expansion efforts, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Mike Olson.

Olson is looking for 9.8 million U.S. DVD subscriptions, 23.2 million U.S. stream subscriptions, and 2.8 million international stream subscription. He says one wildcard is international subscriptions, given what appears to be an "aggressive" level of marketing in the U.K. in the first quarter.

Stock Roller Coaster

The stock has trudged back somewhat after a very public meltdown

Apple (AAPL) earnings are next week, and the buzz cycle is in full effect. Focus has moved this year from the new iPad, to conditions at Foxconn, to Apple shares topping $600, to earnings, to Apple shares falling below $600. And now, it's all about the iPhone again -- specifically, the casing and the launch.

Up until last year, the iPhone was released each summer. But last October, Apple launched the iPhone 4S. The rumor then was that the release, which looked similar but included upgraded components, was just enough to get users by until the next revamp this summer. But analysts are betting the next one will not come until autumn of 2012.

The speculation picked up Thursday after Qualcomm (QCOM) reported a shortage of 28nm Snapdragon processors, which are expected to be a component in the phone. "At this stage, we cannot secure enough supply to meet the increasing demand we are experiencing [and] we're working closely with our partners to bring additional capacity online," said

The latest housing data offer the bulls a glimmer to go on, but it's difficult to distinguish signs of stabilization from signs of life. The data come amid an ongoing debate as to whether housing has hit or has yet to hit bottom.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average 30- and 15-year mortgage rates increased last week to 3.9% and 3.13%, respectively. The "relatively stable" rates came amid signs that inflation remains in check, according to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac.

Meanwhile, existing-home sales were down in March but continue to outpace year-ago levels, according to the latest release form the National Association of Realtors on Thursday.

[Click here to find mortgage rates in your area.]

Home prices are showing further signs of stabilizing but an unexpected decrease in key inventory could be holding the market back, according to the NAR report. “We were expecting a seasonal increase in home listings, but a lack of inventory

Happy Tax Day Eve! As your tax-filing window rapidly closes, the potential for last-minute foul-ups ramps up. Some advice? Doug Dachille of First Principles Capital Management, told our Daily Ticker Team how important it is to get things right. But, inevitably, people will screw up -- some by mistake, some intentionally, some to their own detriment, and some to the detriment of others.

Here are some facts and figures around tax-related bungles -- be they carefully crafted or coincidental -- that are avoidable.

Penalty for not filing: 5%

Taxpayers who don't file their taxes or ask for an extension by midnight Tuesday will get hit with a penalty of about 5% per month based on their unpaid balance. So unless you're asking for an extension, you should file even if you can't pay the full amount due. And that's what the IRS recommends. You can get extra time through the Free File link on IRS.gov.
[Related: Don't Lend Uncle Sam Money at Tax Time]

Unpaid "Tax Gap": $450 billion

Around 83% of