A Credit Slips post on HR 1106, the mortgage modification bill, . lamented that “people just don’t get that this law doesn’t create losses, it forces banks to acknowledge already existing losses, which is an important prerequisite to getting us out of this financial crisis.” Since the collateral for these loans at risk has already…
American Express is offering a cash reward for card holders who cancel their accounts. This is touted as a convenience to help card holders manage their finances. Huh? Is it my imagination, or weren’t credit card companies recently promoting the use of their cards as a means of conveniently managing money? Old Am Ex Blue,…
Legislation attached to the long delayed California budget halts foreclosures on family homes in a move designed to accommodate loan modifications. According to the Legislative Analyst, the bill prevents issuance of a notice of sale under CA foreclosure law for an additional 90 days beyond the statutory reinstatement period applies only to first mortgages on…
The House votes on Thursday on the amendment to the Bankruptcy Code to allow judges to approve modification to mortgages secured by family homes. Get your two cents in before Thursday. The bill repeals the banker’s special protection for home mortgages and allows a Chapter 13 plan to fix the interest rate on a home …
“How do I know when to file bankruptcy” was David Leibowitz’s topic on the Bankruptcy Law Network. I don’t quibble with his list of ten events that say “it’s time to file”, but, my God, if you wait for those events, you’ve suffered far more than necessary arriving at the decision to get a fresh…
My colleague Nick Ortiz points out that we abolished debtors prision some time ago. Yet it is disturbing how many clients believe that not paying your debts is criminal and might send you to jail. I point out, again and again, that America abolished debtors’ prisons some 250 years ago. If you don’t pay your…
Spokesmen for the banking lobby expect the world to stop spinning if bankruptcy judges gain the right to modify home mortgages. They construct a parade of horribles if a contract between a lender and a borrower is altered. What they don’t explain is why this very same power to modify mortgages has not crushed the…
Business Week has a great (or sad) story detailing the reactions of the banking industry to the foreclosure crisis, from 2006 to the present. Banks and their advocates in Washington have delayed, diluted, and obstructed attempts to address the problem. Industry lobbyists are…working overtime to whittle down legislation…that would give bankruptcy courts the authority to…
I feel like I’ve found my new website’s reverse image: meet the evil twin of SaveHomeWithBankruptcy, the mortgage banker’s Stop the Bankruptcy Cram Down. There will be lots to write about here and on Northern California Mortgage Mods, the companion blog that Doug Jacobs and I write, countering the mortgage banker’s view of the solution…
It’s tax season: don’t forget to write off the deductible expenditures made by your Chapter 13 trustee on your tax return. Many Chapter 13 plans are paying mortgage arrears (which are almost exclusively deductible interest), taxes of some sort, or business expenses. These items should be deductible to you. You can get a report from…
