In a previous article on this site, Is The Credit Card Industry Redlining? I wrote about actions by American Express where customer’s credit limits were lowered based upon where they shopped. In a New York Times article, “American Express Kept a (Very) Watchful Eye on Charges” writer, Ron Lieber reports on his interview with Susan [...]
January 2009
Congress is debating a change to Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code to allow homeowners with “negative equity” in their homes to reduce the amount owed on their mortgages to the amount of their home’s value. This is the “cram down” legislation, which has failed on many occasions due to the the banking industry’s strong [...]
ABC News reports: “Octuplets’ Family Has Bankruptcy History”! CBS News reports: “Octuplets’ Family Filed For Bankruptcy”! ABC and CBS are reporting on the recent birth of Octuplets’ to a woman in California who already had six children and lives with her mother in a three bedroom house. There’s only one problem: The mother didn’t file [...]
Every federal district court has a standing order of reference which refers all bankruptcy cases to the bankruptcy court for its district. The reference can be withdrawn by the district court at any time, usually because a case requires resolution of a conflict between bankruptcy laws and other laws affecting interstate commerce. These local standing [...]
HR 200, the House version of the “Helping Families Save Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2009,” as reported in Northern California Mortgage Mods, was amended in committee to include a “clawback” amendment. This allows mortgage companies, whose loans are modified by a bankruptcy judge, to share in the appreciation of a house that is later [...]
Clients ask “Can I keep making contributions to my retirement plan in a Chapter 13 case?” They also ask “can I include contributions to my retirement plan in my budget” for purposes of a chapter 7 case. Why is this important? If your income after taxes is greater than your expense, your chapter 7 case [...]
