Bankruptcy courts stage some of the most complicated and exotic dramas imaginable. Have you heard the one about the Mexican mining company that is being sued by its own subsidiary while simultaneously trying to buy it back? It’s a tale that could only be told in bankruptcy court.
The story begins in 1999 when [...]

Popularity: 13% [?]

Wiping out student loans in bankruptcy is rare because the law requires a heavy burden:  Proof that repayment creates an “undue hardship” on the consumer.  How rare?  When a contested hardship discharge was granted in St. Louis late last year, most practitioners could not remember the last time it had happened.
To put this in perspective, [...]

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Most credit card debt can be wiped out in bankruptcy. The most common way to lose that right is for a lender to prove they were defrauded. Only rarely do folks intentionally charge up a credit card without having some intention of eventually repaying it and they are even less likely to confess it in [...]

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Do 401(k) withdrawals during the prior six-months before a bankruptcy filing “count” as income for the means test? My friend Andy Miofsky outlined today the well-reasoned Zittel decision from Southern Illinois that concludes they do not.
The decision was set in opposition to In re Sanchez from my neighboring district, the Western District of Missouri, [...]

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The Wall Street Journal editorial page weighed in Tuesday against S. 2636, the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. The credit industry lining up against the bill is expected. And, probably to no one’s surprise, the Journal once again opposes a pro-consumer proposal.
You can tell a vote is coming soon — The anti-consumer arguments [...]

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Countrywide is selling itself at fire-sale prices to Bank of America. It has laid off tens of thousands of employees. Investors in its stock and bonds have been hammered. Homeowners across the country are defaulting on its mortgages and the federal home loan bank is on the hook for many of those [...]

Popularity: 22% [?]

Loans to ailing businesses are becoming a rarity. The credit crunch that has hit the consumer across the country is now biting businesses on the brink driving them into bankruptcy — as well as those on the rebound out of bankruptcy.
Last June, we visited this issue and businesses were not seeing much difficulty placing [...]

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Just because your mortgage servicer is bankrupt and your loan is nearly worthless to other lenders, don’t expect you’ll catch a break. That’s the lesson coming from the latest round in the American Home Mortgage bankruptcy.
As we have noted before, American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. is in bankruptcy in Delaware. Part of the [...]

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It’s tax refund season. If you are currently in a bankruptcy, you should not spend your tax refund before talking to your lawyer! Otherwise the court may deny or revoke your discharge. That is a double-whammy — you’ll have a bankruptcy on your credit report but not wipe out the debts!
The Eighth [...]

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Pending bankruptcy legislation would allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages in Chapter 13 in order to slow down the foreclosure crisis in this country. Mortgage bankers oppose the bills even though it could ultimately benefit their industry.
Today, they rolled out former Republican Congressman Dick Armey in the Wall Street Journal to attack former Republican [...]

Popularity: 22% [?]