This is a frequent scenario. A debtor files for bankruptcy, gets a discharge, and continues to get billing statements from the mortgage company. These statements and other communications come despite being promised by his or her attorney that all further communications must cease and that any future communications are a violation of the discharge injunction, [...]
November 2008
Democratic Congressional leaders introduced House Bill 7307 this week to remove a ban on modification of a homeowners residential mortgage in chapter 13 bankruptcy.� It would correct a 30-year-old anomaly in the Bankruptcy Code allowing the modification of nearly all loans except a family�s home. “The legislation that Rep. Sanchez and I plan to introduce [...]
One of the many sticking points about the Means Test is defining income when comparing one’s income for the past six months against the median income. Income is defined in sec. 101(10A) of the Bankruptcy Code as ”the average monthly income from all sources that the debtor receives (or in a joint case the debtor and the [...]
“Home” is laden with such emotional content that it is sometimes hard to think rationally about whether one ought to struggle to save a house in foreclosure. The problem has several facets and there are no universal answers. Here’s my list of issues for further thought. Home as investment We have traditionally paid more to [...]
Mortgage rescue outfits are likely to be just another scam taking advantage of your desperation.  The New York Times recently editorialized on November 24, 2008 in this way: “Predators of every sort have regrouped and returned to their old ways, this time as loan-modification companies, inserting themselves between hard-strapped homeowners and banks, offering to work deals [...]
Bankruptcy Judge J. Rich Leonard calls residential mortgage modification in chapter 13 bankruptcy a “win-win bankruptcy reform” in a column in today’s Washington Post. “No one has been able to explain to me why it is not better for mortgage holders to get a fair return of principal back, albeit at a lower interest rate, [...]
