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Bankruptcy

Credit Slips

A discussion on credit and bankruptcy.
By Bob Lawless, Adam Levitin, Angie Littwin, Katie Porter, John Pottow, Debb Thorne, Elizabeth Warren

Post Frequency: 12.8/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 09:01:41

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Mortgage Servicing and Implications for Mortgage Modification

Posted on February 04, 2009
It looks as if the mortgage cramdown--er, modification-- legislation will be sitting around for a while, at least until the stimulus package gets through Congress. So it seems worth talking about its reference to making ?payments of such modified loan...

Bankruptcy Filing Rate Declines for Second Straight Month: Not Necessarily Great News

Posted on February 04, 2009
The U.S. bankruptcy filing rate declined again in January 2009. This was the second straight month of declines, when bankruptcy filings are computed on a daily basis as should be done. Don't be fooled, however, into thinking the news is...

What's in a word (or 2?) Cramdown

Posted on February 02, 2009
Last Sunday's New York Times Magazine's feature, On Language, discussed the etymology and signification of the word "cramdown." (Or is it "cram down?" That's a separate debate that professors have with law review editors every year). William Safire observes that...

WSJ's "Bankruptcy Beat"

Posted on January 31, 2009
The Wall Street Journal has launched a new blog called "Bankruptcy Beat." The focus looks like it will be more on business than consumer bankruptcy. They describe their blog as follows: "Bankruptcy Beat provides an inside view into the latest...

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Big Brother Is Looking After You

Posted on January 31, 2009
The NYTimes has a story about how American Express is analyzing where its cardholders are making purchases and using that information to determine whether to likely to default and adjusting credit limits and rates accordingly. This sort of behaviorally-based pricing...

It's Not You, It's Where You Shop

Posted on January 30, 2009
A lot of stories had been circulating on the Internets and through the Google that consumers were getting hit with lower borrowing limits on the credit cards. Sometimes, they received notice the limit was lowered, and sometimes they found out...

Bankruptcy Risk Scores

Posted on January 30, 2009
People talk a lot about credit scores as if there is some magic number hanging over your head and that number is following you everywhere. Isn't there maybe even some commercial like that? Like many things, the perception about credit...

Here Is Your Interest Rate, Except When It Isn't

Posted on January 30, 2009
Credit card companies often make you promises with fine print that nullifies the promise. The Simpsons episodes (maybe the best . . . . show . . . . ever) often will include an advertisement promising some great product with...

Calling All Article 9 Supernerds--Negative Equity and State Law

Posted on January 30, 2009
What?s a blog for? For law professors, a key attraction is to float a question you don?t have time to write a law review article about. So here is the question: As a matter of state (not bankruptcy) law, should...

Slipstering on Midmorning

Posted on January 28, 2009
For those of you with bandwidth and time to spare on Thursday morning, you might want to catch two of us Credit Slips bloggers on Minnesota Public Radio's "Midmorning with Kerri Miller." Katie Porter and I will talk about bankruptcy...

Mortgage Cramdown--Layering On Complexity

Posted on January 26, 2009
Chapter 13 is already too complicated, and cramdown legislation will make it more so and lead to a new round of litigation and expense that will stand in the way of keeping people in their homes. By all means, Congress...

Welcome Back to Jean Braucher

Posted on January 26, 2009
Credit Slips would like to welcome back Jean Braucher, the Roger C. Henderson Professor of Law at the University of Arizona. Professor Braucher, a highly regarded expert in commercial and bankruptcy law, is an important voice in how these bodies...

Bankruptcy Modification and the Emperor's New Clothes

Posted on January 24, 2009
A new argument being advanced against bankruptcy modification is that it will result in trillions of dollars of losses and the collapse of the financial system. This is the "the sky will fall" argument. Leaving aside the grossly inflated numbers,...

Cramdown and Future Mortgage Credit Costs: Evidence and Theory

Posted on January 24, 2009
I've written extensively (see here, here, e.g.) on why permitting modification of mortgages in bankruptcy would generally not result in higher credit costs or less credit availability. As the debate over bankruptcy reform legislation to help struggling homeowners and stabilize...

Should I file bankruptcy?

Posted on January 24, 2009
Several news stories have tackled this question about when a consumer should consider bankruptcy. In addition to the Newsweek piece that attracted lots of attention, today's New York Times Cost of Living column by M.P. Dunleavey is entitled "Bankruptcy as...

A Class on Bailouts

Posted on January 21, 2009
In early 2008, I had to figure out what courses I would teach in the next academic year, and it was decided that I would offer a seminar of some sort in the 2009 spring semester. "Just call it a...

New Blog from American Banker

Posted on January 20, 2009
The American Banker magazine has started a new blog called BankThink. In its words, "Written by the journalists at American Banker, BankThink is about ideas, trends, and other developments in financial services." It looks it will discuss many of the....

Focus 580 Appearance

Posted on January 20, 2009
Once again proving that I have a face made for radio, I'll be on Focus 580 with David Inge tomorrow morning. For persons in the Champaign, Illinois area, you can listen beginning at 10:06 AM (Central Standard Time) at 580...

Shared Appreciation Clawbacks

Posted on January 15, 2009
As bankruptcy modification of mortgages (a/k/a Chapter 13 "cramdown") looks more and more likely to become law, it's worth considering what the final legislation might look like. Already there have been some compromises in order to get Citibank's support...

Cramdown Controversy #2--Will I "Succeed?"

Posted on January 12, 2009
Our active readers at Credit Slips already started debating the second controversy about the pending cramdown legislation: is the failure rate of chapter 13 too high to make mortgage modification in bankruptcy a very useful tool? To briefly reprise that...

New Orleans DA's Chapter 9?

Posted on January 12, 2009
A couple of years ago, it looked like New Orleans itself would have to file for Chapter 9. Now it might just be the DA's office, which is mulling a rare Chapter 9 filing. To file for Chapter 9, an...

Cramdown Commentary

Posted on January 09, 2009
Bob scooped me on an initial post about the deal between Citigroup and Senate Democrats on pending legislation to permit bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages in bankruptcy. But I have details. And commentary. And questions. First, the letters from Citibank...

Cramdown Controversy #1--Who Do I Pay?

Posted on January 09, 2009
The pending legislation to permit courts to modify home mortgages is stirring up some controversies--even among its advocates. The key issues are operational and very important, I think, to the success of this legislation. Here's the first brewing controversy: How...

Chapter 13 Cramdown Bill

Posted on January 08, 2009
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Citigroup is negotiating over the terms of a bill to give bankruptcy judges the power to adjust home mortgages in chapter 13. The article further reports that the National Association of Home Builders...

Bullshit--Professionally Speaking

Posted on January 07, 2009
I don't get to post very often right now, but sometimes I can put on my academic robes and talk about a new piece of scholarship. And what better thing to talk about when wearing academic robes than bullshit? Curtis...

Credit Slipping in Newsweek

Posted on January 07, 2009
Newsweek columnist Jane Bryan Quinn has a column this week about when it might make sense for a consumer to file bankruptcy. See "The Case for Walking Away. " For expert commentary, Quinn's column features three Credit Slips regulars: Professors...

Chapter 11s Rise 62% in 2008

Posted on January 06, 2009
Yesterday, I posted about the increase in total bankruptcy petitions. Today, I want to focus on one particular subset of that figure and that is the number of chapter 11 petitions, which also are on the rise. Again, Automated Access...

Student Writing Competition on Bankruptcy

Posted on January 05, 2009
Aspiring bankruptcy geeks (I surely mean experts) and their law professors take note: the National Association of Chapter Thirteen Trustees is sponsoring a law student writing competition. The paper can be on any issue that concerns chapter 13. The winner...

Bankruptcy Filings Rise 32% in 2008

Posted on January 05, 2009
Bankruptcy filings in 2008 rose 32% as compared to 2007 according to data from Automated Access to Court Electronic Records (AACER). There were just under 1.1 million total bankruptcy filings in 2008 as compared to 827,000 in 2007. Those figures...

General Blog Update

Posted on January 05, 2009
In the fall, we were migrated. I had thought that entailed a change of location, but apparently it meant our blog hosting service upgraded our blog with new and improved technology. The biggest change is that readers will notice is...

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