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[ad_1] The Delhi Police has busted a gang that defrauded people selling them air tickets online only to cancel them later, officials said on Friday. The two masterminds of the operation, identified as Pravin Tiwari, a resident of Bahraich (UP), and Rohit Kumar, a resident of Rewari (Haryana) — both aged 34 years — have been arrested. The officials said they have recovered a gold chain from the accused — purchased from the cheated money — and seized Rs 61,267 found in their bank account. The police said the fraud was exposed on March 29, when a Delhi University professor filed a complaint alleging getting scammed by a booking agent online. According to the complaint, the professor was to travel to Canada to attend an official programme in the first week of April. On March 23, a female student of his made searches on his behalf for good deals on travel tickets on an app. After some time, she received multiple calls with booking offers. The student, the complaint said, struck a deal with an agent named Pravin Tiwari. Tiwari reportedly ‘booked’ the tickets and sent their copies to her on WhatsApp and asked her to deposit Rs 1,49,730 in a bank account he gave her, which the professor did. Later, when the complainant checked the details of the ticket with the airline, he was told that the tickets were cancelled. When he called the agent who had booked the tickets, he found his number switched off. Following the complaint, an investigation was taken up, during which it was revealed that several other people were defrauded the same way, a senior police official said. Its investigation led the police to conduct a raid in Zirakpur in Punjab, but the accused had left the hideout a day before the police team could reach there. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said that their team got a tipoff that Tiwari, one of the accused, was going to get engaged on April 14 in UP’s Baharich. He said a team was rushed to Bahraich which arrested both the accused from the town. “During interrogation, It was found that Tiwari had met Rohit Kumar in Pune in 2016. They both started working as travel agents and suffered heavy losses,” the officer said. “A few months ago they shifted base to Zirakpur, where they hatched a plan to cheat prospective travellers. The accused then registered themselves as agents on Sulekha mobile app using fake mobile numbers and waited for leads,” he said. The accused would contact the customers with enticing offers for air tickets. They would book the tickets and get the buyers to make payment after sending them the tickets on WhatsApp. “Once they would receive the money, they would cancel the tickets and switch off their mobile phones,” said the DCP. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] President Joseph Biden Federal agencies committed to further racial equity through new equity action plans, but for housing, the action plan is light on new action. The housing plan lacks any participation from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which is not a cabinet level agency, but oversees the federal entities that back most of the mortgage market. A FHFA spokesperson declined to give a timetable for the release of the equitable housing finance plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were due at the beginning of 2022. Also missing among the agencies presenting plans for equity in housing were the Department of Justice, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates the nation’s largest banks. Those three agencies pledged last year to take on “digital redlining.” Instead, the White House equity plan for housing centered on the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the Federal Housing Administration and enforces the nation’s fair housing laws. The FHA is still awaiting Senate confirmation of its nominated commissioner, Julia Gordon. Biden made racial equity a formal administration priority the same day he took office. HUD’s response to that call for action involved contributions from more than 100 department staff, according to HUD Sec. Marcia Fudge. HUD’s equity action plan does not include any new funding for the efforts, however. HUD’s equity action plan acknowledged the federal government’s historical role in enabling discriminatory practices in housing. The department said it is “eager to use HUD’s authorities to reverse the deep-seated detriment caused by prior federal policies and prioritize equity in all HUD programs.” In a virtual press conference convened by the White House, Fudge said the key to narrowing the racial homeownership gap is to continue doing what the agency has been doing. “For HUD, racial equity is what we do each day,” said Fudge. “Racial equity is and must continue to be front and center.” In its action plan, which it released April 14, HUD highlighted potential future increases to funding for its salary and expenses. Biden called for the funding boost in his presidential budget, and will be a starting point for negotiations in Congress. HUD said the extra dollars would help the department keep pace with fair housing investigations, which reached a five-year high of 8,402 in 2021. The funding would also “improve capacity to pursue Secretary-initiated investigations and compliance reviews,” which do not necessarily arise from a public complaint, the equity action plan states. The HUD equity action plan will increase outreach to small businesses that are underrepresented in its procurements. HUD also outlined its approach to reduce the racial homeownership gap. To increase usage of the FHA program, which disproportionately serves first-time homeowners and people of color, HUD said it would try to remove “perceived bias of the program,” but did not fully explain how it would do that. FHA borrowers often experience discrimination because of the perception that FHA financing is inferior to agency-backed mortgage financing and will take longer to close. The equity action plan also promised to improve efficiency of the FHA program by “leveraging technology.” FHA’s efforts to update its outdated technology systems hit a snag last year. While the mandatory use date for part of the FHA Catalyst program was pushed back a year in February, HUD officials have said they are satisfied with the program’s progress. The department also said it would increase its outreach to non-traditional lenders, look into ways to make financing available for small-dollar mortgage loans, and increase mortgage financing on tribal trust lands. HUD also said it wants to expand access to financing for manufactured housing through updating the Title I program and construction and safety standards. HUD also said it would improve “asset and credit building for renters interested in transitioning to homeownership,” which could signal a step toward pushing subsidized rental housing providers to report rental data. Congress has sought action on rental data sharing since 2009, when it tasked the FHA with creating a pilot program to test out using alternative data such as rental history. That authorization expired four years later without the FHA taking action, and 2019 legislation to restart the process failed to advance from the House of Representatives. Last year, advocates asked the Biden administration to direct HUD to use existing programs and its relationships with subsidized rental housing providers to report rental data. HUD is also taking steps to address the excruciating lack of supply in the housing market, and to ensure that real estate it controls remains affordable. On Tuesday, HUD announced the sale of its vacant reverse mortgage properties to mission driven nonprofits. The post White House announces action plans for racial equity, but leaves out GSEs appeared first on HousingWire. [ad_2] Source link

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[ad_1] Russian warship sinks; Ukraine says its missile is responsible [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] ÇDelhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said a specific wing in schools or classrooms where a COVID-19 case has been detected should be closed temporarily and clarified that the entire school should only be closed in specific cases. The comments by Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister, came against the backdrop of rising cases of COVID-19 among school children and staff members. A meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has been called on April 20 to review the situation in the national capital. “We haven’t asked them to close schools. Our guidelines say that only a specific wing or classroom where someone was found COVID positive should be temporarily closed. Schools can take a decision to close the entire premises in specific cases where an infected child or staff has been through multiple areas of the school we have made it decentralised,” Sisodia said in response to a question during a press conference. The Directorate of Education (DoE) issued a fresh advisory for schools in the national capital on April 13, directing them to close the entire premises or specific wings temporarily if any student or staff tests positive for COVID-19. The department also said students and staff must wear masks and maintain social distancing to the extent possible. “We will review the COVID situation in our next DDMA meeting on April 20. In the meeting, there are experts who are keeping an eye on new variants and they present their observations and analysis in the context of Delhi, which helps us to make informed decision,” Sisodia said. Delhi reported 325 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, while the positivity rate stood at 2.39 per cent, according to data shared by the city’s health department. Reports of infections from schools have sparked concerns, weeks after they opened for completely offline classes following a two-year gap due to the pandemic. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Fannie Mae generated some buzz last week when it announced it would be accepting written attorney opinion letters in lieu of a title insurance policy “in limited circumstances.” HousingWire wondered: just what were those limited circumstances? According to the government sponsored entity, the only transactions ineligible for an attorney title opinion letter are those that involve loans secured by a unit in a condo project, co-op share loans, loans secured by a dwelling on a leasehold estate, including leasehold estates on property owned by a community land trust, loans secured by a manufactured home, HomeStyle Energy and HomeStyle Renovation loans, Texas Section 50(a)(6) loans, loans secured by property subject to restrictive agreements or restrictive covenants, and loans executed using a power of attorney. “This update aligns with industry policy and gives lenders an option, typically used for refinance transactions,” Fannie Mae wrote in response to HousingWire’s query. In May of 2020, Freddie Mac announced it would be accepting attorney opinion letters in lieu of title insurance policies under similar circumstances and with similar requirements for the letter and the attorney writing it. In an email, Fannie Mae confirmed that the impetus for this change was that the use of AOLs could potentially reduce title costs for borrowers. The GSE plans to track outcomes from AOLs to better understand the savings realized. “Depending on the state, potential borrower savings using an AOL in lieu of lender title insurance can range significantly, and AOL usage is largely driven by state-specific laws and practices,” a Fannie Mae spokesperson wrote in an email. “We continue to look for ways to support lower origination costs for borrowers and lenders.” Despite Fannie Mae’s optimism and the apparently large number of circumstances in which AOLs may be used, Bud Moscony, the president of Inspired Title Services, LLC, does not believe this announcement will result in any significant changes to the title industry. “What is interesting to me is that it appears that Fannie Mae has gone back to what was prevalent before title insurance; namely, an attorney opinion of title,” Moscony wrote in an email. “Title insurance came to be because attorney title opinions were not adequate for the marketplace. Attorney opinions do not insure against undisclosed title claims, nor cover a situation where the attorney was not negligent but the county indexed the document improperly and hence it was missed and not excepted from coverage, among other reasons. So one can issue the attorney opinion product but it will NOT be a substitute for title insurance,” Moscony wrote. The American Land Title Association, the primary trade organization for the title industry, expressed a similar view. “We strongly believe that title insurance is, and always will be, essential,” the organization said in a statement to HousingWire. “For over a century, title insurance has provided reassurance that a title is clear of defects and offers lenders and borrowers the highest level of confidence in ownership. Historically, lenders have overwhelmingly preferred the protection of a title insurance policy, and Fannie Mae itself has acknowledged that there may be additional risk in accepting attorney opinions.” Like Moscony, ALTA advised home buyers and lenders to consider the potential risks involved when using an AOL in lieu of a title insurance policy. “We have a dependable and trustworthy real estate system in the United States, and any shortcuts to these well-established processes should be examined thoroughly,” ALTA wrote in an email. Theodore Sprink, the managing director of iTitleTransfer, a Scottsdale-based proptech company, does not feel that title insurance is necessary. “Title insurance is a $25 billion revenue per year monopoly controlled by four title insurance corporate conglomerates, which pay only 3-5% in claims,” Sprink wrote in an email. “ALTA has also published statements that traditional SFR search and examination functions reveal that 75% of residential properties are deemed ‘clean title,’ which renders title insurance unnecessary.” Given that Freddie Mac’s AOL announcement nearly two years ago has not greatly impacted the title industry, it is doubtful that Fannie Mae’s recent move will have large ramifications for title purveyors, at least until lenders use the AOL option consistently. The post ALTA on new Fannie policy: title insurance “will always be essential” appeared first on HousingWire. [ad_2] Source link

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Table of Contents Where To Start With Car Insurance The 10 Best Car Insurance Companies for 2022 Other Car Insurance Companies We Considered Compare Best Car Insurance Companies by State How to Pick A Policy With the Best Car Insurance Companies 7 Tips to Get the Cheapest Car Insurance Rate Understanding Car Insurance Coverage Options Making The Best Decision Where To Start With Car Insurance The first (and quickest) step is to get multiple quotes online and compare offers. You can select your state on the map below to get matched with the top auto insurance providers in your area. This process is totally free. 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Best Rating Consumer Reports Reader Score Premiums Written ($bn) Progressive Discounts why? 821 A+ 87 $22.8 Allstate Insurance Overall User Experience why? 808 A+ 88 $21.4 GEICO Mobile App why? 825 A++ N/A $29.6 Esurance Personalized Policies why? 844 A+ N/A $1.68 State Farm Teen Drivers why? 824 A++ 89 $41.8 Liberty Mutual Premium Add-Ons why? 808 A 88 $11.6 USAA Military why? 884 A++ 95 $13.2 Amica Well Qualified Drivers why? 880 A+ 94 $2.3 Auto-Owners Insurance Customer Service why? 853 A+ 93 $7.58 The Hartford AARP Members why? 821 A+ 90 $15.8 Progressive Progressive is the fourth-largest auto insurer in the U.S. and has consistently strong reviews. In fact, roughly 1 in 10 drivers in America has chosen Progressive above any other. Where we consider them to really stand out, however, is in the widely available discounts. Between good student and homeowner discounts, the safe driver (up to 31%), pay-in-full, multi-car, their Name Your Price and Snapshot tools (which helps Progressive base your rate on your actual driving habits), almost everyone will qualify for at least one discount. Need motorcycle coverage? Progressive tops our list for that too! TO LEARN MORE: See Rates from Progressive Allstate Insurance Allstate is a happy-medium company. They write a large number of premiums, have strong financials, receive praise from their customers, and have a good digital experience as well as brick and mortar offices and agents across the country. Compared to a company like Geico, which prioritizes (and shines) at a technology-driven experience, Allstate gives you the option to interact via web or face-to-face locally with an agent. We suggest Allstate particularly if you’re bundling policies, as they can be on the expensive side otherwise. See Rates from Allstate Geico Who hasn’t heard of Geico? Their clever marketing is hard to miss: the charming gecko, “so easy a caveman could do it”, and that Wednesday-loving camel. But advertising aside, Geico really shines in their digital experience. If you’re a self-service, technology-over-agent type of shopper, then Geico’s mobile app is for you. You can quote, buy and manage your insurance right from your phone. That means paying your bill, requesting roadside assistance, or submitting a claim. And with more than 1.7M reviews (more than their competitors, combined) in Apple’s App Store alone, averaging a 4.8-star rating, the experience is well-tested and well-endorsed. TO LEARN MORE: See Rates from Geico Esurance Esurance was one of the first companies to start selling directly to the customer instead of going through an agent. To this day, they still do not have any local agents. But they offer a smooth digital experience that makes it easy to customize a plan, receive quotes, manage your policy, and file claims. Esurance received “better than most” marks across the board in 2019’s J.D. Power’s Auto Insurance Shopping Study. One of the primary advantages of buying auto insurance through Esurance is that you have the control and flexibility to build a personalized policy, specific to your unique needs. TO LEARN MORE: See Rates from Esurance State Farm Founded in 1922, State Farm Insurance has a history of financial stability and customer service satisfaction. According to the Insurance Information Institute, State Farm is the largest provider of private passenger auto insurance,

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[ad_1] Powerful explosions heard in Kyiv after Russian warship sinks [ad_2] Source link