The arrival of yet another government-initiated plan to manage out of control student loan debt has attracted more fanfare than it merits.  The new plan is hailed as a “life preserver” for student borrowers drowning in high student loan debt by the finance and education industries.  The article hyping student loan repayment plans found on [...]

If you stop making Chapter 13 payments and do nothing else, your bankruptcy case will be dismissed and the court will not enter a discharge order.  This means you will lose the benefits of your bankruptcy and will no longer be protected from your creditors.
When your bankruptcy case was filed, the court entered a stay [...]

Bankruptcy may be a better solution for a consumer with too much debt to pay than a negotiated settlement with the creditors.  Debt settlement companies will probably not tell you this, but you could end up owing tax if you settle with your creditors for a discount rather than discharging debts in bankruptcy.
The IRS assesses [...]

Congress established the Office of the U. S. Trustee as part of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 to act on behalf of the executive branch and regulate or supervise certain aspects of the bankruptcy process.
According to the official website the US Trustee program consists of the Executive Office for U. S. Trustees (EOUST) located [...]

The bankruptcy court charges a fee of $274 for a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy and $299 for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.  Credit counseling costs approximately $50 and it costs another $20 or so for the financial management course the debtor is required to take in order to qualify for a discharge.  Then, there is the attorney [...]

The misleadingly named Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 created a dilemma for debtors with private student loan obligations. That act extended the undue hardship requirement for discharge in bankruptcy to private student loans without making available the Federal reduced payment plans that partially relieved burdens to lower-income debtors.
If the entire obligation [...]

Bank of America can gouge its credit card holders with court approval according to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.  As if 18% interest isn’t enough, the bank was allowed to get away with increasing the interest rate to 32% retroactively when a credit card account exceeded the credit limit for two successive months.
The credit [...]

Senator Richard Durbin just introduced S 500 called the “Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Credit Rates Act of 2009“. The bill would limit consumer credit rates to a cost of no more than 36% annual interest. This would include any fees and other charges.
Senator Durbin, an Illinois democrat and assistant majority leader, is a friend of [...]

A website offering help over the internet in the form of software used to complete a bankruptcy filing is practicing law.  Unless the website is run by a lawyer, its owner is violating the law by practicing without a license.  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of In re Reynoso, 477 F.3d [...]

A new law aimed at stopping debt collectors who violate fair debt collection standards was proposed by the Oregon attorney general and has been passed by the state senate.  Oregon Senate Bill 328 will give the Oregon Department of Justice the authority to enforce existing Oregon law prohibiting illegal debt collection practices.
For many years Oregon [...]