I think it’s likely that this kind of thing happens more often than we ever know, but at this time of year the media pays more attention.  Whether that’s true or not, it’s a nice story in very tough times.  And the hero of the story is a blogger, which makes it even better.

[T]he Sampsons were notified that they were facing foreclosure unless they could come up with $10,000 in the next two weeks to bring their mortgage up to date.

“Once we received that letter, it was like, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do?’ ” Daniel Sampson said. “I don’t think anyone in their right mind would receive a foreclosure notice and not be rattled by it.”

Somehow, the couple maintained their sense of humor. Ebony Sampson called one of her oldest friends, Jaki Grier, and jokingly asked her if she had $10,000. Jaki told her, “Sure, just let me open up my invisible purse!”

But then Grier got an idea.

A self-described geek, Grier started blogging years ago. Since then, she’s contributed to a magazine’s Web site and regularly posts thoughts and life happenings on her LiveJournal page. So, she published Ebony and Daniel’s story, along with a link where people could make a donation.

At the most, Jaki thought she could raise enough money to help the Sampsons pay a security deposit on an apartment after their home was auctioned.

But donations started pouring in. Within 24 hours, Grier’s blog had raised $1,000, far exceeding her expectations. People started linking to Grier’s blog from sites across the Internet and around the country.

Attorneys posted legal advice. Others in similar situations offered sympathy. One woman sent a donation with a note that said she had just lost her own home but wanted to help anyway. Another woman wrote that she didn’t have a car but would walk to her grocery store with a jar of change and donate it to the cause.

Yet another e-mail came from a woman who was unemployed, with no job prospects. She donated a dollar.

With every donation, the total raised ticked higher and higher on Grier’s blog.

“Everybody wants to give to a charity, but so many times when you give to a charity you don’t really see where your money goes,” Grier said. “At least with this, you saw the little [donations] ticker go. I think that made people excited.”

Four days after Grier’s blog post, she had raised $3,400 — enough to repair the Sampsons’ car. That night, Grier went to bed ecstatic. The next morning she checked her PayPal account and was stunned to find the balance had ballooned to $10,900.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

InsideARM.com, a trade publication for debt collectors, announced that debt collection agency United Recovery Systems, LP (URS) will be acquired by private equity firm Audax Group.

According to the story:

Houston-based URS is one of the largest private accounts receivable management companies in the U.S., employing more than 1,000 people at call centers in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and Mexico. URS provides first-party and early stage contingency debt collection services to some of the largest credit card issuers and financial institutions in the U.S.

ARM industry advisory firm Kaulkin Ginsberg Company initiated the transaction and served as advisor to URS.

“This transaction is further indication that the equity and debt markets remain strong for industry-leading companies,” noted Mark Russell, Director at Kaulkin Ginsberg and lead advisor on the transaction. “While credit is tight for any type of capital investment right now, there is still interest in the ARM industry and the right deals will get funded.

“We’re looking forward to working in partnership with Audax to build upon our long-term track record of success,” noted Doug Schultz, Chairman and CEO of URS, adding that he and the management team will remain with the company.

Audax said that it intends to grow the URS business and leverage the firm’s “strong performance in a growing industry.”

Source: InsideARM.com.

The Office of Thrift Supervision announced that it has adopted new regulations for credit card accounts.  These new rules will eliminate some of the worst of the practices routinely used by credit card companies.

The rule bans practices often cited as unfair to consumers, such as raising the interest rate on an existing credit card balance when the consumer is paying the credit card bill on time.

“I am extremely proud that OTS leadership has culminated in this important rule to ensure fair treatment for the millions of Americans who use credit cards,” said OTS Director John Reich.  “The rule will enhance public confidence in financial institutions and establish a level playing field for institutions that want to do business fairly without suffering competitive disadvantages.”

The rule requires that consumers receive a reasonable amount of time to make their credit card payments, prohibits payment allocation methods that unfairly maximize interest charges and, in the subprime credit card market, limits fees that reduce the credit available to consumers.

The new rule will also give consumers a 45 day notice of changes the credit card companies propose to make to the terms of a credit card account, instead of the current requirement of a 15-day notice.

The full text of the rules is published by the OTS.  The bad news: the rules don’t take effect until 2010.  The OTS is, however, encouraging lenders to voluntarily comply with the rules prior to that time.

The Associated Press reports that an Australian Court has permitted a mortgage lender to use Facebook as a means to serve legal documents on homeowners in a foreclosure case.  Mortgage lender MKM Capital was apparently unable to achieve personal service on delinquent homeowners Gordon Poyser and Carmel Corbo, two retirees who were unable to make their mortgage payments.

Homeowners and consumers in the United States should not expect that American courts will follow suit.  In the United States, lenders are subject to a variety of privacy rules that would prevent them from revealing information about delinquent customers.  Further, American law requires personal service of civil complaints to insure that the defendant actually received a lawsuit - notfication by Facebook email will not suffice. Read the rest »

The Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve announced today that it has decided today to establish a target interest range for the federal funds rate of 0 to 1/4 percent. 

The Federal Reserve cited the deteriorating labor market and the decline in consumer spending, business investment, and industrial production as factors in its decision to lower the interest rate. 

The Federal Reserve had recently reduced the federal funds interest rate down to 1 percent.

The reduction will mark the lowest that the federal funds interest rate has been in nearly 50 years.