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, [...]

A recent New York Times Article Charity’s share from shopping raises concerns calls it “a marketing gimmick run amok” and warns that the potential for scamming is huge. The practice of embedded giving , of building a donation to charity into the purchase price of a particular item or items from a certain retailer, [...]

If the sub-prime mortgage crisis hasn’t broken the back of the middle class consumer, the student loan collection industry will soon be taking a swing at it. The future is not looking good for the American middle class.
The 2005 legislative changes made Bankruptcy more difficult and more expensive for the consumer debtor.  Creditors are now [...]

A major irritation for debtor attorneys in Chapter 13 cases is the filing of a motion to lift the automatic stay by a home loan creditor when debtor has made all payments required under the plan. I have had Chapter 13 cases where as many as three unwarranted motions were filed by the loan servicer [...]

After her earned income credit was seized to pay her student loans, a mentally and physically disabled mother of two became disheartened and stopped applying for it.  The US Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division, ruled that her failure to apply for the earned income credit constituted bad faith, and used this as [...]

In a recent BusinessWeek article entitled “Prisoners of Debt”, the author discussed companies buying and selling debt that has already been discharged in bankruptcy. When the debt is revived by unlawful credit reporting or collection action it is often referred to as zombie debt. It seems that such debt can be purchased inexpensively [...]

Yes, several types of bankruptcy are available to a small business.  Big businesses make big news filing bankruptcy.  We have all heard about the airline bankruptcies and the newspapers are full of stories about home lenders filing bankruptcy.  These bankruptcy cases are multi-million dollar affairs; usually filed under Chapter 11 as major corporate reorganizations.  Small [...]

Jonathan Ginsgberg’s Recent Post, “How do I Qualify for a Hardship Discharge on My Student Loan?” introduces another bad actor into the emerging student loan debacle – the for-profit educational institution that provides services of questionable value while steering student borrowers towards high-cost private loans.  Ginsberg’s correspondent described in the article, a disabled woman on [...]

Children whose parents have large educational debts can be enslaved to pay off those debts, says the US District Court judge John D. Rainey in the case of Pratt v. ECMC. The judge backed ECMC, a well heeled collector and, in effect, told Mrs. Pratt she has too many children.
I commented earlier on ECMC’s predatory [...]

The two main locations for the Oregon bankruptcy court are in Eugene and Portland.  Each of the two court divisions have their own clerk’s office, chambers for the judges, permanent courtrooms and a library.  The Oregon bankruptcy judges hear adversary proceedings, motions and other contested or disputed matters in these locations as well as in other [...]