Credit Card Lawsuit - I Don't Want to Go to Court By Mr. Greg Artim of Ezine Article

Many people have a fear of going to court. The judge, the jury, it can be a scary place for someone who doesn't do it every day. Truth be told, however, is that most credit card cases do not require the individual to actually go to court.

The truth of the matter is that many of the credit accounts that go delinquent do not result in immediate lawsuits. What happens in many cases is that the original creditor, whether it is a department store or a financial institution, sells the delinquent account to a collection agency or junk debt buyer. Buying and selling debt is a very large business. The original creditor does this to wash its hands of the bad debt, and the collection agency likes this exchange because it is able to purchase these delinquent accounts at a substantial discount, often for only a few pennies on the dollar. What does this have to do with you going to court on one of these cases?


Credit card cases are typically what I call "document" cases. The credit card company, or collection agency, needs documents to prevail in court. Most often, they need a card member agreement, terms and conditions, monthly account statements, and if the debt was sold, a copy of the Assignment. (Assignment is a contract between original creditor and purchasing debt collection company). When a debt is sold, at least when it is sold for pennies on the dollar, the documents often are not sold as part of the deal. Most of you are thinking, "That can't be true, can it"? It is the truth. Think about the price of the debt. A collection agency pays pennies on the dollar, how much can they actually get? Often, its just a name, address, phone number, account number, balance, and not much else.

What does this have to do with you going to court? Everything. When a collection agency lawsuit is filed on a credit card account, these documents are often missing from the lawsuit. Your proper response is to hire a consumer attorney to defend your interests. The attorney will file documentation (called Objections in PA where the lawer practice law) that questions the legal sufficiency of the lawsuit. A judge should agree that the lawsuit is insufficient and force the collection agency to come up with the proper documentation. If they are unable to provide this documentation, and this is often the case, then the court ultimately will dismiss the lawsuit. You, personally, never end up in court. It's simply just a matter of your attorney handling the case and forcing the collection agency to provide its evidence or suffer a dismissal.

SOURCE: Credit Card Lawsuit

To be fair, the article writer Mr. Greg Artim only practice law in Pennsylvania and can only comment on how these cases play out in PA. In his discussions with other consumer attorney in other states, there are often different procedures that need to be followed to obtain a dismissal on these cases. Fortunately, however, most of these procedures require only the attendance of your attorney in a court of law, not you.

What happens to debts when someone dies?

When someone dies, any debts they leave are paid out of their 'estate' (the money and property they leave behind). You're only responsible for their debts if you had a joint loan or agreement or provided a loan guarantee - you aren't automatically responsible for a husband's, wife's or civil partner's debts.

The estate

A person's estate is made up of their cash (including from insurance) and investments, property and possessions.
After someone dies their estate is handled by one or more 'executors' - or an 'administrator' if there wasn't any will. These are usually a relative or friend and/or a solicitor.
If the estate's worth more than a certain amount the executor or administrator will need special permission - called 'probate' or 'letters of administration' - to be able deal with the person's affairs. This includes paying off their debts.

What happens if there's not enough money to pay off all debts?

In this case, the estate has to pay off any outstanding debts in a set order before anything is given to people named in the will, or until the money runs out.

Debts if you owned a home together

If you jointly owned your home and there's not enough money elsewhere in the estate to pay off the deceased person's debts, there is a chance that your home would have to be sold. Your options to avoid a sale depend on whether you owned it as 'tenants in common' or 'joint tenants'.

'Tenants in common'

If you were ‘tenants in common’, each of you owned a stated share of the property. The share belonging to the person who has died becomes part of their estate and goes to whoever is mentioned in their will. But if there are outstanding debts these must be paid first from that share.
To avoid a sale of the home, you and/or anyone due to inherit the second share will need to try to negotiate with those owed money ('creditors') and find the necessary money.

'Joint tenants'

If you were ‘joint tenants’, you owned the whole property together and the deceased person's share passes automatically to you.
But even though it's now in your estate, you can't ignore the debts. Creditors can apply for an 'Insolvency Administration Order' within five years of the death. This can have the effect of dividing the property in two and can force a sale. So it's in your interest to try to come to an agreement with people who are owed money, and try to pay them yourself.
Information as to whether you own the property as 'tenants in common' or 'joint tenants' may be shown in the Transfer or Lease by which you acquired the property or in a Trust Deed or in a Will. The land register may also provide a clue, but Land Registry cannot advise you on which kind of ownership you have chosen.

How different debts are paid off

Mortgages

If the mortgage lender required life insurance this may pay off the full amount of the loan. If there isn't any insurance - or if there were second mortgages not covered by insurance - the property may have to be sold.

Rent arrears

If you are a joint tenant in rented property, you must pay off any rent arrears. You are not liable for the previous rent arrears if you take over a tenancy.

Water rates

Anyone still living in the house is responsible for any arrears and for ongoing charges, even if their name isn't on the bill.

Council Tax

Anyone still living in the house is responsible for any arrears and ongoing charges, even if their name isn't on the bill. (Although there is a 25 per cent reduction for being the only adult in the house.) Council Tax stops if no one's living in the house.

Fuel bills

If you've been living in the property jointly you may be liable for fuel bill arrears. Contact National Debtline for advice - details below.

Hire purchase (HP agreements)

The buyer doesn't own the property until the last payment has been made. But if over one third of the agreement has been paid, the seller needs a court order to get the goods back.
Before returning goods or making payments, check to see if there was a payment protection plan.

Personal loans, credit cards and credit debt

Repayment of these debts must wait until others have been settled. If cards are held jointly, any debts will be the joint holder's responsibility - but check to see if you're covered by a payment protection plan.

Bank account
If this was in the person’s sole name, no one will be able to touch the money until the estate is sorted out. If you had a bank account in joint names, you can still usually use the account.

SOURCE: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/DebtsAndArrears/DG_10013093

Software Piracy and Penalty

What is Software Piracy?

Software piracy is the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software.  This can be done by copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies onto personal or work computers. What a lot of people don’t realize or don’t think about is that when you purchase software, you are actually purchasing a license to use it, not the actual software.  That license is what tells you how many times you can install the software, so it’s important to read it.  If you make more copies of the software than the license permits, you are pirating.

Simply put, making or downloading unauthorized copies of software is breaking the law, no matter how many copies or people are involved.

Whether you are casually making a few copies for friends, loaning disks, distributing or downloading pirated software from the Internet, or buying a single software program and then installing it on multiple computers (including personal), you are committing copyright infringement—also known as software piracy.
It doesn’t matter if you are doing it to make money or not — if you or your company is caught copying software, you may be held liable under both civil and criminal law.  Under the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, software piracy is punishable by up to nine years imprisonment and a fine of up to P1.5 million. In addition, introducing pirated software into your computing environment can open you up to the risk of damage to your network through defective software or malicious code.

Why a License Matters?

 

You may not realize it, but software development involves a team effort that blends the creative ideas and talents of programmers, writers and graphic artists. And like most creative works, such as books, music and films, computer software is protected by copyright laws.

When you purchase software, you do not become the owner of the copyright. Rather, you are purchasing the right to use the software under certain restrictions imposed by the copyright owner, typically the software publisher. The precise rules are described in the documentation accompanying the software -- the licence. It is imperative that you understand and adhere to these rules. Most often, they state that you have the right to load the software onto a single computer and make one backup copy. If you copy, distribute or install the software in ways that the licence prohibits, whether you are swapping disks with friends and coworkers or participating in widespread duplication, you are violating federal copyright law. Even if you only help someone else make unauthorized copies, you are still liable under the copyright law.

Apart from legal consequences, using copied or counterfeit software also means:

• Greater exposure to software viruses, corrupt disks, or otherwise defective software;
• Inadequate or no documentation. No warranties;
• Lack of technical product support available to properly licenced users;
• Ineligibility for software upgrades offered to properly licenced users.

What is the Law?

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines are protected by the Intellectual Property (IP) Code (Republic Act 8293). The Philippines is a signatory of the Berne Convention for the protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).
Under the IP Code, “original works” are protected by the sole fact of their creation. It is not necessary to register a work, or to do anything else to obtain the protection of the code. Furthermore, original works are protected regardless of their content, quality, purpose, or the form of their expression. Among other things, the code expressly protects computer programs as literary works. The IP Code also protects the copyright in the manuals and packaging, which accompany the software.

How Does the Law Work?

The IP Code gives the copyright owner the exclusive right to do certain things with the “works,” which in this case are the computer program, the manuals, and the packaging.
These “exclusive rights” include:

• The right to copy the whole program or a substantial part of it.
• The right to adapt or translate the program.
• The right to rent the program to another person.

This permission is given in the form of a license. Every time you purchase a legitimate copy of a computer program, you will receive a license agreement. This agreement will tell you how you may use the computer program. If you do any thing with the computer program, which is not permitted under the license agreement (or the IP Code), then you will have breached the Code and will be liable for the penalties.
This means that you may only copy, adapt or rent a computer program if the copyright owner gives you the permission to do this.

What are the Penalties of Breaking the Law?

• 1st offense
  Imprisonment of 1 year to 3 years plus a fine ranging from P50,000 to P150,000.
• 2nd offense
  Imprisonment of 3 years and one day to 6 years plus a fine ranging from P150,000 to P500,000.
• 3rd offense to subsequent offenses
  Imprisonment of 6 years and one day to 9 years plus a fine ranging from P500,000 to P1.5 million.

Under Philippine law, the copyright owner may also bring a civil action for infringement of copyright. If the court finds that a breach of copyright has occurred, then it may award an injunction prohibiting future breaches, and/or either monetary compensation for the damage suffered, or an account of profits made as a result of the infringement. The court may also award the copyright owner moral and exemplary damages.
Under the Intellectual Property Code (RA 8293), the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines) may order the cancellation of any permit, authority or registration that the IP Philippines had granted. The Office may also impose various penalties including cease and desist orders, condemnation or seizure of the products, administrative fines and award of damages.

 

 

28 Simple Things You Can Do To Have A Fantastic 2011 by Bo Sanchez

28 Simple Things You Can Do To Have A Fantastic 2011 by Bo Sanchez

 

The keys to success are simple. I believe that real genius lies in sticking to the simple.

 

       Today, I’d like to “spoon feed” you.

 

       I’d like to give you 28 simple things that you can do this year that will revolutionize your life.

 

       If you do these 28 simple things, 2011 will be a blast.

 

1.        Laugh with inspiring friends at least once a week or more ---> tama! laughter is one of the best medicine & stress reliever! ÜÜÜ

 

2.        Have Mentors in the most important areas of your life

 

3.        Walk 30 minutes a day

 

4.        Use your talents for God by serving in a ministry

 

5.        Invest 20% of your income every month

 

6.        Read one inspiring book a month

 

7.        Cut TV watching to the barest minimum (Zero is a good number)

 

8.        Limit newspaper reading to 5 minutes or less a day

 

9.        Take vacations often

 

10.    Eat fruits for breakfast

 

11.    Always have a salad for lunch and dinner

 

12.    Start a business (or improve your business) this year

 

13.    Always be grateful to God and others

 

14.    Always live by your deepest values

 

15.    Spend time with God everyday

 

16.    Play with your kids at least once a day (If you don’t have any, borrow.)

 

17.    Have a weekly date with your spouse (If you don’t have any, don’t borrow!) ---> ahahahahah! tama nga naman... Ü

 

18.    Date your parents regularly ---> dapat gawin tuwing uuwi ng probinsya. 

 

19.    Before you sleep, remove all anger by forgiveness ---> sana di ko makalimutan lalo na pag pagod na sa trabaho... =(

 

20.    Be the kindest person you can be ---> effort to, lalo na pag may sumasagad ng pasensiya mo...

 

21.    Find your passion and live it fully

 

22.    Give more hugs (and receive as many)

 

23.    Listen to understand, not to reply ---> very enlightening...

 

24.    Celebrate more often

 

25.    Put people over projects

 

26.    Enjoy quiet and solitude

 

27.    Always give 10% of your income to God

 

28.    Keep dreaming

Consumer Reports: Thanksgiving dinner can be deadly if you overdo it

A few years ago on Thanksgiving day, Marvin M. Lipman, Consumers Union's chief medical adviser, was called to the emergency room to see a 52-year-old high school football coach in the throes of a heart attack. In the whirlwind of activity to stabilize him before a transfer to a nearby medical center for angioplasty and stenting, Lipman didn't have time to sit down with his wife to take a decent history until later that evening.

"You couldn't possibly believe what he ate today," she said, and then went on to describe a meal that could have fed his entire offensive backfield. He also had a high blood cholesterol level and a family history of early coronary disease.
In years gone by, skeptics wondered whether a single meal could trigger a heart attack. But in the past decade or two, researchers have learned a lot more about the physiological events that take place after eating a meal packed with carbohydrates, fat and salt. Some research has found that it can set the stage for a heart attack. For example, a study of 1,986 heart attack patients presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in 2000 suggested that an unusually large meal quadrupled the chance of having a heart attack within the next two hours.
The price of a pigout
After a large meal (a Thanksgiving feast can easily exceed 4,000 calories), cardiac output of blood is increased and diverted to the intestinal circulation to aid digestion, which can take as long as six hours, leaving other organs, including the heart and brain, relatively deprived. The work involved in all this shunting around of blood might be the equivalent of vigorous sex or moderate exercise.
But that's not all. An increase in insulin, triggered by the carbohydrate content of the meal, can compound the situation by preventing normal relaxation of the coronary arteries. Triglyceride elevation, from the fats and carbs, can impair the function of the inner lining of the coronary arteries and cause those vessels to become less elastic and acutely inflamed. Increases in inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein have been noted following a large, high-fat meal. And the rise in blood pressure that usually occurs after eating such a meal can cause those inflamed patches to rupture, which in turn can lead to blockages and heart attacks.

Gobbling down a huge dinner can have other health consequences, too. The prodigious amounts of gastric acid produced during the body's effort to digest the food can cause acid reflux that often goes on for many hours. The high fat content of a typical holiday feast can precipitate a gallbladder attack in people with gallstones. The high salt content might trigger acute heart failure in someone with a history of that condition.
Add to those possibilities the sleepiness generated not only by the meal but also by the wine one might imbibe (making the drive home an accident waiting to happen), plus the embarrassing flatulence and waking up the next morning with acute gout, and you have many good reasons to revamp your eating habits at Aunt Fannie's fabulous feast this year.
The only thing you probably don't have to worry about is rupturing your stomach. That rarely happens, because the stomach can expand to accommodate nearly four times the normal volume of food.
Be a gourmand, not a glutton
So what's a formerly fearless foodie to do on a holiday that features a dinner table groaning with potentially deadly goodies?
l Don't arrive famished. Have a snack an hour or two before.
l Stay away from the finger food at the hors d'oeuvres table.
l Eat the salad first.
l Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
l Taste everything to your liking, but take small portions and resist seconds.
l Eat slowly, and participate in conversation.
l Skip the dessert, or at least go easy on it. Fruit is preferable.
l Limit alcohol intake to one glass of wine, and drink at least one full glass of water.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112204836.html?g=0

Kno textbook reader to ship this year !!!

WASHINGTON—Kno Inc., a California company making a digital textbook reader for students, announced on Tuesday it would begin shipping the tablet computer by the end of the year.
Kno, which has received funding from Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm launched by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, said its 14.1-inch (35.8-centimeter) single screen tablet will cost 599 dollars.
The dual-screen version will sell for 899 dollars.
Kno, which is short for "knowledge," said it was accepting a limited number of pre-orders for an initial shipment that is expected to be delivered by the end of the year.
"Kno's extraordinary benefits represent only a tiny fraction of the overall cost of college," Kno co-founder and chief executive Osman Rashid said in a press release. "When you do the math, it actually pays for itself."
Kno said it has been testing the product with students and received a positive response for both the single and dual screen devices.
Digital textbooks will be sold through the Kno bookstore and cost between 30 percent and 50 percent less than physical textbooks, the company said.
Kno is working with a number of publishers including Cengage, McGraw Hill, Pearson, Macmillan, Bedford, Freeman & Worth, Holtzbrinck, BarCharts Publishing, Kaplan, Random House and University Presses.
"According to the not-for-profit College Board's 2010 report, the average college student spends approximately 1,100 dollars a year on books and supplies," Kno co-founder and chief technology officer Babur Habib said.
"Kno can reduce that cost while bringing education into the 21st Century, providing students with a far superior learning experience than they have today."
The Santa Clara, California-based Kno was founded in May 2009 and announced in September it had received 46 million dollars in the latest round of funding from Andreessen Horowitz and other venture capitalists.
Apple launched its iPad tablet computer earlier this year and a number of other companies have since announced plans to come out with touchscreen devices for reading electronic books or surfing the Web.
The iPad costs between $499 and $829.

http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20101110-302483/Kno-textbook-reader-to-ship-this-year

NATURAL CANCER CELL KILLER

by María-Isabel Marqués on Friday, September 24, 2010 at 8:37am

The Soursop Fruit or GUANABANA (name of the fruit in Puerto Rico) GUYABANO, is the name Philippines call the fruit.

The SOUR SOP or the fruit from the GRAVIOLA TREE is a miraculous natural cancer cell killer 10,000 times stronger than Chemo.

Why are we not aware of this? Its because some big corporation want to make back their money spent on years of research by trying to make a synthetic version of it for sale.

So, since you know it now you can help a friend in need by letting him know or just drink some sour sop juice yourself as prevention from time to time. The taste is not bad after all. It's completely natural and definitely has no side effects.. If you have the space, plant one in your garden.

The other parts of the tree are also useful.

The next time you have a fruit juice, ask for a sour sop.

How many people died in vain while this billion-dollar drug maker concealed the secret of the miraculous Graviola tree?

This tree is low and is called graviola in Brazil , guanabana in Spanish and has the uninspiring name "soursop" in English. The fruit is very large and the subacid sweet white pulp is eaten out of hand or, more commonly, used to make fruit drinks, sherbets and such.

The principal interest in this plant is because of its strong anti-cancer effects. Although it is effective for a number of medical conditions, it is its anti tumor effect that is of most interest. This plant is a proven cancer remedy for cancers of all types.

Besides being a cancer remedy, graviola is a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent for both bacterial and fungal infections, is effective against internal parasites and worms, lowers high blood pressure and is used for depression, stress and nervous disorders.

If there ever was a single example that makes it dramatically clear why the existence of Health Sciences Institute is so vital to Americans like you, it's the incredible story behind the Graviola tree.

The truth is stunningly simple: Deep within the Amazon Rainforest grows a tree that could literally revolutionize what you, your doctor, and the rest of the world thinks about cancer treatment and chances of survival. The future has never looked more promising.

Research shows that with extracts from this miraculous tree it now may be possible to:

> * Attack cancer safely and effectively with an all-natural therapy that does not cause extreme nausea, weight loss and hair loss

> * Protect your immune system and avoid deadly infections

> * Feel stronger and healthier throughout the course of the treatment

> * Boost your energy and improve your outlook on life

The source of this information is just as stunning: It comes from one of America 's largest drug manufacturers, the fruit of over 20 laboratory tests conducted since the 1970's! What those tests revealed was nothing short of mind numbing... Extracts from the tree were shown to:

> 

> * Effectively target and kill malignant cells in 12 types of cancer, including colon, breast, prostate, lung and pancreatic cancer..

> * The tree compounds proved to be up to 10,000 times stronger in slowing the growth of cancer cells than Adriamycin, a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug!

> * What's more, unlike chemotherapy, the compound extracted from the Graviola tree selectivelyhunts down and kills only cancer cells. It does not harm healthy cells!

The amazing anti-cancer properties of the Graviola tree have been extensively researched--so why haven't you heard anything about it? If Graviola extract is as half as promising as it appears to be--why doesn't every single oncologist at every major hospital insist on using it on all his or her patients?

The spine-chilling answer illustrates just how easily our health--and for many, our very lives(!)--are controlled by money and power.

Graviola--the plant that worked too well

One of America 's biggest billion-dollar drug makers began a search for a cancer cure and their research centered on Graviola, a legendary healing tree from the Amazon Rainforest.

Various parts of the Graviola tree--including the bark, leaves, roots, fruit and fruit-seeds--have been used for centuries by medicine men and native Indians in South America to treat heart disease, asthma, liver problems and arthritis. Going on very little documented scientific evidence, the company poured money and resources into testing the tree's anti-cancerous properties--and were shocked by the results. Graviola proved itself to be a cancer-killing dynamo.

But that's where the Graviola story nearly ended.

The company had one huge problem with the Graviola tree--it's completely natural, and so, under federal law, not patentable. There's no way to make serious profits from it.

It turns out the drug company invested nearly seven years trying to synthesize two of the Graviola tree's most powerful anti-cancer ingredients. If they could isolate and produce man-made clones of what makes the Graviola so potent, they'd be able to patent it and make their money back. Alas, they hit a brick wall. The original simply could not be replicated. There was no way the company could protect its profits--or even make back the millions it poured into research.

As the dream of huge profits evaporated, their testing on Graviola came to a screeching halt. Even worse, the company shelved the entire project and chose not to publish the findings of its research!

Luckily, however, there was one scientist from the Graviola research team whose conscience wouldn't let him see such atrocity committed. Risking his career, he contacted a company that's dedicated to harvesting medical plants from the Amazon Rainforest and blew the whistle.

Miracle unleashed

When researchers at the Health Sciences Institute were alerted to the news of Graviola, they began tracking the research done on the cancer-killing tree. Evidence of the astounding effectiveness of Graviola--and its shocking cover-up--came in fast and furious....

.....The National Cancer Institute performed the first scientific research in 1976. The results showed that Graviola's "leaves and stems were found effective in attacking and destroying malignant cells." Inexplicably, the results were published in an internal report and never released to the public...

...Since 1976, Graviola has proven to be an immensely potent cancer killer in 20 independent laboratory tests, yet no double-blind clinical trials--the typical benchmark mainstream doctors and journals use to judge a treatment's value--were ever initiated...

....A study published in the Journal of Natural Products, following a recent study conducted at Catholic University of South Korea stated that one chemical in Graviola was found to selectively kill colon cancer cells at "10,000 times the potency of (the commonly used chemotherapy drug) Adriamycin..."

....The most significant part of the Catholic University of South Korea report is that Graviola was shown to selectively target the cancer cells, leaving healthy cells untouched. Unlike chemotherapy, which indiscriminately targets all actively reproducing cells (such as stomach and hair cells), causing the often devastating side effects of nausea and hair loss in cancer patients.

...A study at Purdue University recently found that leaves from the Graviola tree killed cancer cells among six human cell lines and were especially effective against prostate, pancreatic and lung cancers.... Seven years of silence broken--it's finally here!

A limited supply of Graviola extract, grown and harvested by indigenous people in Brazil , is finally available in America .

The full Graviola Story--including where you can get it and how to use it--is included in Beyond Chemotherapy: New Cancer Killers, Safe as Mother's Milk, a Health Sciences Institute FREE special bonus report on natural substances that will effectively revolutionize the fight against cancer.

> This crucial report (along with five more FREE reports) is yours ABSOLUTELY FREE with a new membership to the Health Sciences Institute. It's just one example of how absolutely vital each report from the Institute can be to your life and those of your loved ones.

From breakthrough cancer and heart research and revolutionary Amazon Rainforest herbology to world-leading anti-aging research and nutritional medicine, every monthly Health Sciences Institute Member's Alert puts in your hands today cures the rest of America --including your own doctor(!)--is likely to find out only ten years from now.