The Chapman Life Group

07/02/2022

About 2 million federal student loan borrowers, many of whom are seeking debt relief from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, will get a new federal student loan servicer as soon as early July.

FedLoan — an arm of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency known as PHEAA — is currently servicing those loans.

If you're affected by the change, here's what to expect.

06/27/2022

For small businesses trying to stay afloat during the pandemic, a company that sold grant-writing services seemed to offer a lifeline. In a lawsuit, the FTC and State of Florida say the company promised to get businesses “guaranteed” grants of $25,000 to $250,000, depending on how much they paid for its services. But, the lawsuit says, those promises were false and businesses lost thousands of dollars each.

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

06/16/2022

Warren Buffett on Tuesday donated about $4 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and four family charities, part of the billionaire’s pledge to give away nearly all of his net worth.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which Buffett has run since 1965, said the donation comprises about 14.4 million of its Class B shares, whose closing price on Tuesday was $277.64.

Warren Buffett on Tuesday donated about $4 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and four family charities, part of the billionaire's

06/15/2022

Funding Will Enable Affordable Housing Development and Other Activities to Meet Needs of Families and Communities.

HUD No. 22-097 HUD Public Affairs (202) 708-0685 FOR RELEASE Tuesday May 17, 2022 HUD ANNOUNCES $10.3 BILLION IN GRANTS FOR HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES ACROSS U.S. Funding Will Enable Affordable Housing Development and Other Activities to Meet Needs of Families and Communities WASHI...

06/15/2022

Biggest news of all? Veterans can now file their request to appeal to the Board online!

The Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA) is modernizing! Veterans can now file an appeal online at the BVA website. Here's how.

06/11/2022

The annual Social Security Trustees Report, released last week, projected a COLA of 3.6% in 2023. But the program’s chief actuary, Steven Goss, said in a webinar by the Bipartisan Policy Center that the COLA could be much bigger if inflation continues apace.

“With the trends, we’re seeing this year, it’s likely we’re going to have a COLA closer to 8% than 3.8% next year,”, especially with higher wages mixed in, he said.

The Social Security Administration uses average inflation in the third quarter, based on the CPI-W, to calculate the benefit adjustment for the following year. The COLA was 5.9% in 2022.

The biggest price increases in May were in shelter, gasoline, and food, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After declining in April, the energy index rose 3.9% in May, with gasoline rising 4.1%. The food index rose 1.2%.

CPI rises to 8.6% over past 12 months, the largest since December 1981. Gasoline up 4.1% from April to May.

06/10/2022

The IRS doesn’t consider death benefit proceeds as taxable income. However, interest earned on that sum after you pass is taxable. For example, asking the life insurance company to delay the transfer of the death benefit for a few months will cause the lump sum to earn interest while it is held.

If you elected to receive monthly installments, the funds that have yet to be disbursed also will accrue taxable interest. If you plan on naming your estate as the life insurance beneficiary, the amount could push the estate into a federally taxable zone. The 2022 limit before an estate is taxed is $12.06 million.

Beneficiaries do not pay income tax on a life insurance death benefit payout. However, any interest that death benefit earns may be taxable.

06/10/2022

Federal investigators say Goodyear knew that some of its recreational vehicle tires could fail and cause severe crashes, yet it didn’t recall them for as many as 20 years.

Goodyear wouldn’t recall the tires as late as March of this year, even though investigators found that their failure caused crashes that killed eight people and injured 69 others from 1998 through 2009.

The agency posted documents Tuesday showing that Goodyear had agreed to recall 173,000 of the tires, which have been out of production since 2003.

DETROIT (AP) -- Federal investigators say Goodyear knew that some of its recreational vehicle tires could fail and cause severe crashes, yet it didn't

06/09/2022

The players “did not receive the necessary conflicting event and media rights release — or did not apply for releases at all,” according to an internal PGA memo. The PGA will also suspend any future tour players who play in LIV events, says the memo, which is dated Thursday.

“These players have made their choice for their own financial-based reasons,” the memo reads. “But they can’t demand the same PGA TOUR membership benefits, considerations, opportunities and platform as you.”

Mickelson, who just turned 51, has been a major recruiter for LIV Golf, which is funded mainly by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. He hasn’t participated in a golf tournament since February. His deal with LIV is reportedly worth about $200 million. Johnson’s deal is worth about $125 million, The New York Post reported.

The PGA Tour has suspended 17 golfers, including Phil Mickelson, who are competing in the Saudi-backed LIV golf event near London.

06/09/2022

Whether you live in an area prone to hurricanes, tornados, flooding, hail, wildfires, or severe storms — all of which are becoming more prevalent amid a warming climate — it’s important to know which types of weather-related damage your homeowner's insurance covers, excludes or charges a separate (and likely higher) deductible for.

It’s worth noting that in Florida, the insurance industry is in crisis, largely due to rampant roof replacement schemes that result in litigation and have cost insurers an estimated $3.4 billion in underwriting losses over the past two years, according to Mark Friedlander, spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute.

Florida homeowners in 2021 saw their premiums increase by an average of 25%, compared with 4% for the rest of the U.S., Friedlander said. The institute projects average increases of 30% to 40% this year, with many households seeing increases of 100% or more.

Regardless of where you live, it's important to know which types of weather-related damage your homeowners insurance covers.

06/08/2022

Florida’s property insurance crisis is about to hit home for tens of thousands of policyholders.

More than 68,000 policies of troubled Sunrise-based FedNat Insurance Company and its sister companies Maison and Monarch National will be canceled by the end of June, according to terms of a consent order filed Friday by the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

The cancellations are part of a rehabilitation plan that state insurance regulators required FedNat to submit following the rating downgrade from A - “Exceptional” to S - “Substantial.” Federally funded mortgage loan guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require borrowers to maintain coverage with A-rated insurers.

At the time of the downgrade, Demotech CEO Joseph Petrelli said FedNat could potentially restore its A rating with an infusion of capital that would enable it to enter the hurricane season with sufficient claims-paying capacity.

Under the plan, FedNat Insurance Co. will cancel 56,500 personal residential policies while Monarch will cancel 8,400 policies and Maison will shed 3,300 policies. The 68,200 policyholders will be given 45 days notice of the cancellations.

More than 68,000 policies of troubled Sunrise-based FedNat Insurance Company and its sister companies Maison and Monarch National will be canceled by the end of June, according to terms of a consent order filed Friday by the state Office of Insurance Regulation. The cancellations, meant to help FedN...

06/08/2022

A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would establish new rules for cryptocurrency, and hand the bulk of their oversight to