The credit industry’s aggressive improvident lending is starting to reap the same brambles we saw with the subprime mortgage industry.  Let’s punish the lenders of easy credit is the title of a recent article by Liz Pulliam Williams on MSN money.  Jill Michaux in her article on bankruptcy reform legislation   and Kurt O’Keefe in another article about [...]

The literature on starting a business is endless; advice on going out of business scant. Here are some thoughts on what to do when you’ve made the painful decision to shut down: my checklist of tasks when ownership has decided to close a business without a bankruptcy.

A Missouri judge has disagreed with a Kansas colleague about how Missouri law applies to certain car loans with trade-ins. This is a blow for consumers and unsecured creditors and a win for car lenders. It will cause Chapter 13 plans to pay more to car lenders at the expense of unsecured creditors, [...]

You have lost your home to foreclosure. Surprise, here is the bill for the income tax you now owe. Maybe not, if you are one of the former homeowners saved from grief by new federal legislation. On December 20, 2007, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 became law. This new law will protect [...]

All cases filed in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties have trustee meetings at 1441 Main Street, Room 515, in Springfield. Chapter 13 cases from Berkshire County also have their trustee meetings there. Chapter 7 cases from Berkshire County are held in the first floor hearing room of the Pittsfield Courthouse.
The Chapter 13 trustee [...]

Money moves faster than the paper.  Wall Street securitized trusts have “agreements” for the transfer of mortgages, but the mortgages have not been actually transferred to the trusts.  The trusts have no rights under the mortgages but, never you mind, they’ve gone ahead with foreclosures.  Rules?  Laws?  Who cares.  They got the money.
A judgment is [...]

     I hate to sound like a broken record, especially at holiday time, but, those with more expertise than I are voicing the same opinion, the sub-prime mortgage crisis has started the dominoes falling toward recession, which always brings more bankruptcies.
The sub-prime mortgage crisis has spread, throughout the world financial system.
The Federal Reserve Board, European [...]

I took a holiday today, and stayed home to build and decorate a gingerbread house with my seven-year-old (which I highly recommend, by the way, but be warned–royal icing really is like cement). I got a phone call from my assistant, to update me on office matters, and she told me about a phone [...]

Proposed new bankruptcy legislation designed to help troubled homeowners will benefit consumers without hurting the industry.  It would allow consumers with bad home loans to get help from the bankruptcy court.  Lobbyists for big banks argue that granting bankruptcy courts the ability to modify home mortgage terms will increase interest rates.  Adam Levitin, a Georgetown law professor, [...]

As predicted by many, credit card debt default continues to grow.
The latest figures show credit card debt defaults booming.
There is no sign people will stop charging for Christmas gifts and other holiday expenses.
Bankruptcy filings typically rise when the holiday bills arrive, and cannot be paid.