For the past couple of years in Northern California, there has been a flurry of refinancing fueled by low interest rates, substantial property appreciation, and financial needs of homeowners. While before, it seemed that every unemployed high tech worker here got a real estate license, it seems like half of them now became loan agents. […]
Different advice after BAPCPA
I looked back to see how my advice to clients considering bankruptcy has changed since the amendments of 05 took effect. Deceptively dubbed bankruptcy reform, the changes were designed to narrow the door to the bankruptcy court and shackle debtor’s attorneys whom Congress blamed for inciting people to file bankruptcy. Where I used to tell […]
One Year of “Reform”
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act became effective little more than a year ago. The net of our experiences thus far with the amended Bankruptcy Code is that bankruptcy relief remains widely available. What has been sacrificed is economy and predictability. Lawyers and judges struggling with applying the statutes amended by BAPCPA find […]
IRS warns of credit counseling fraud
The IRS’s list of its annual “Dirty Dozen” tax frauds includes credit counseling. Credit Counseling Agencies. Taxpayers should be careful with credit counseling organizations that claim they can fix credit ratings, push debt payment plans or impose high set-up fees or monthly service charges that may add to existing debt. The IRS Tax Exempt and […]
Plastic in the Life of our Society
In the flurry before the effective date of BAPCPA, the bankruptcy “deform” act, I encountered two articles on the role of credit cards in the economy of American familes. Borrowing to Make Ends Meet looks at the growth of credit card debt during the 90’s and concludes that the increase in housing and health care […]
Katrina as a model for debtors
The enormous devastation wrought by Katrina has prompted a push to delay implementation of the harsh new bankruptcy provisions or to exempt victims of disasters from its more burdensome provisions. What Congress missed, or didn’t care to consider, when it enacted the 2005 bankruptcy bill, is that the lives of most bankruptcy debtors are just […]
Living in the Valley of the Shadow of Debt
Nearly 40% of California homeowners spend more than the target 30% of their income on housing; 15% spend more than 50%. Therein lies the start of financial instability. Liz Warren’s book on the Two Income Trap identified the quest for schools in better school districts as the reason that two income, middle class families were […]
Credit Cards Call the Shots
The arbitrariness of the credit card world is highlighted in a recent Consumer Action study of reasons a credit card issuer can raise the interest rate on your card. Adjacent to “too much debt” as a reason for a rate increase was “too much credit available”! So if you’re a good credit risk in the […]
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