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A close friend of mine has been approved for the HAMP mortgage modification program. The lender is PNC Bank. They have informed her of her new payment to avoid foreclosure. Her interest rate has gone down from 5,875% to 3.2%. They used last years tax return (which included overtime that she no longer gets) to calculate her payment (31% of Gross). They also added taxes and insurance on top of the 31%. They also say that after the three month trial payment period is over they will calculate her final payment, which will probably be even higher.

According to the .gov website, the 31% should INCLUDE taxes, insurance and Home Owners Association fees (if applicable). The 31% is supposed to be based upon current income not past income. After all an income reduction past to current is the whole reason for the HAMP modification process.

Her adjusted payment is only slightly less than the original payment. Theoretically, PNC has approved a loan which will have an adjusted payment higher that the original payment, which she was unable to pay. PNC representatives don't return phone calls. None of this makes any sense.

Is there a Federal agency who monitors or audits these calculations? Where can she file a complaint? Can she just call her Senator's office?

When I save a yahoo email to file the options to save the item are "printer file .pm" or "All files". My pc saves the file properly and puts it in the selected destination, with the proper name. Everything is fine until I try to open the file to view it. At that point my computer can't figure out which program created it and it can't be opened. I've tried several different programs and still can't open the email file. Which program should I use to open the file?

I would like to send a complaint to Ellen Weiss and the management of NPR (National Public Radio) concerning the firing of Juan Williams. His contract was canceled over a statement made concerning a personal experience with Muslims, in an Airport. Doesn't he have a First Amendment right to an opinion or feelings? Maybe Ellen Weiss should become Director of Fiction. The news should be a reflection of reality and as Director of News she obviously has her head in the sand. Juan Williams should be commended for stating the obvious and Ms Weiss should resign for failure to support and defend her staff. How will NPR ever maintain an objective outlook when the staff never knows when the ax will fall? Ellen should have evaluated her actions as though she was preparing an episode of "All Things Considered". This time she definitely missed a few "Things".

I am attempting to use a Minolta Flash Meter IV to measure ambient light. I need to take light readings in a parking lot for future security cameras. The meter is requesting settings for ASA/ISO and shutter speed. Since this is for use with digital video cameras there is no film so I don't know the ASA/ISO and there is no shutter speed.

My wife recently visited her daughter and her two children (our grandchildren). It was a nice night so my wife decided to drive out to their home in the country with the top down (on the car, of course). When my wife got into the car to leave she discovered that a cat (her daughter's?) had sprayed the car interior. The car now reeks of cat stench. What can I do to eliminate the odor? By the way, is it a Porsche Boxster. I'm really starting to hate cats.

My daughter has a Compaq laptop with a Vista operating system. It was working fine with our wireless router until today. The troubleshooting guide says to check the "switch" along the edge of the device or use a "key combination" to turn it on or off. I don't know of a key combination and none of the keys have a symbol that looks like it should work. Where would I find this switch?

My daughter still has the Game Boy that we bought for her older sisters when she was born. That was almost 16 years ago. She also has 8 original games, a carrying case and an illuminated magnifying device to allow it to be used in the dark. Everything works fine. She was offered $200.00. Is that enough? If it's too much, why?

I know that this sounds crazy. The following paragraph was cut and pasted from a current headline story on Yahoo. "11 more kids die from Swine Flu".

"The new swine flu strain also may have hit some pigs at the Minnesota State Fair in late August, animals possibly infected by some sick 4-H students. If the infection is confirmed, it wouldn't be a surprise: A sick farm worker first infected pigs in Canada last spring, and herds have been hit in Australia and Argentina, too. The virus doesn't spread to humans who eat pork."

The last sentence in this paragragh sounds insane. Can this possibly be accurate? What did the author intend to say?

If this is true why don't we all forget about the vaccine and go out for ribs?

We upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 and now all of our links are gone from our Favorites. Why? Where did they go? Why do the various search engines feel compelled to "help" us by "upgrading" software and screwing us out of the information we need? I had information saved as links for future use and now it's gone forever. Or is it? And finally I want to know why the ---- (edited for content) they just won't leave well enough alone?

I have recently heard statements (on the radio) indicating that the government is considering legislation which would require credit card companies to double the minimum monthly payments in an attempt to force consumers to reduce their credit card balances. I personally think that this would put many consumers "over the edge" financially, especially those that are barely hanging on as it is. This will cause many individuals to default causing them to incur dramatically increased interest rates and penalties from which they will NEVER recover. This will be the final straw that breaks our economy's "back". Does anyone have any real information about this?

These new "curly" bulbs use a small fraction of the energy that conventional bulbs use. Bulbs produce two products, light and heat. Most light fixtures indicate a maximum bulb wattage but that is determined by the maximum amount of heat that the fixture can safely withstand. I am looking for the results of a scientific study that compares the heat output of incandescent bulbs vs "green" curly bulbs. This will allow me to calculate the maximum wattage available from a fixture by simply changing the bulb type, instead of changing or adding fixtures, to get more lumens. It anyone knows of a UL study, that would be perfect.

We bought a rather expensive butane lighter in the shape of a small derringer. I have tried to refill the lighter and other types of butane devices but I have never had much luck. Is there some trick to the process?

I have a five year old Kenmore (Sears) side by side refrigerator/freezer. We procrastinated about replacing the water filter and eventually the ice maker stopped working. I changed the filter and bled the air out of the line to the door dispenser. The door water dispenser works fine. The ice maker has not filled properly since before the filter was changed. Sometimes it will make a little ice but it doesn't get a good water flow. I am attempting to thaw the freezer in case the line is frozen but no luck yet. I have heard a few theories but no luck yet. Sears has offered to fix it for $250.00.

My daughter is 14 and is in the 8th grade. Over the past few months she has begun wearing safety pins in different places on her clothing when she goes to school. Sometimes they are on her pants, sometimes on her blouse sleeves and even on her shoes. They are very small safety pins and are usually multicolored. Sometimes it is just one and sometimes there are two or three interconnected.

She gets defensive and says they don't mean anything. As a rule when she gets defensive that means she is lying. She is moody and thinks that each boyfriend is "forever". But from what I have been told that is "normal" behavior for a girl her age. Except for being a pain in the *** about 20 hours a day, she isn't a bad kid. Does anybody know? What is the purpose of the safety pins? I almost forgot, NO, they aren't used to hold her clothes on or to fix torn fabrics.

Norton's "One Button Checkup" tells me that I have 350 problems with various ActiveX related files on my PC. Spyware Doctor couldn't help. One of the "FREE" repair downloads tells me I have 1,895 ActiveX related problems that it can fix for $29.95. I want to uninstall ActiveX and reinstall it when I need it. When I run a search for ActiveX I find an folder that says it is the Uninstall.EXE file. I can't open the file because I don't know what program deleted it. How can I get rid of ActiveX so that I can download a clean version?

The PC "sees" the device and it will start to play dvds using Windows Media, Real Player and Nero Showtime but they all lock up and /or freeze intermittently like I was trying to watch streaming video with a dialup connection. It also won't play audio Cd's. I have tried multiple discs, so it's not the items I'm trying to play. Also the Plextor name doesn't appear anywhere on the Windows XP Hardware Compatability List. This is my second Plextor DVD burner. The first one didn't work at all.

I have seen the use of cellophane to simulate a leather texture. Is there a special type of cellphane used for this purpose? The sfuff found in kitchens, sticks together.

During a rushed trip to Florida for a funeral, I made reservations for four nights at a Days Inn. I was given incorrect information for the location of the services and discovered it during my drive from Ohio. I called to cancel the reservation about 18 hours later (4:00 PM on the day of the scheduled arrival) and ended up talking to the manager who insisted on charging me for not cancelling more than 24 hours before arrival. As it turned out it was too late to cancel before I even made the reservations. The hotel wasn't sold out and they didn't refuse anyone because of our reservation. After all of this I was charged for TWO nights at $125.00 per night when we didn't stay there at all. I have registered complaints with the Days Inn and contested the charge with American Express but the hotel hasn't contacted me. What is the best way to contest the charge? Supposedly the reservation conversation was recorded but they won't respond.

I know that one of the symptoms of an impending heart attack is a shooting pain in one arm but I don't remember which arm it is. Also, I have heard that this is due to the direction of blood flow to or from the heart but once again I don't remember why they are related.