Archive for September, 2008

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act by a vote of 312-112.

The bill restricts the credit card industry from continuing practices that inflate late-payments penalties.

Among other new rules, the bill requires that credit card companies give at least 45 days notice to consumers before their interest rates increase and they must stop double-cycle billing.

The bill comes at a time when TransUnion, a leading credit-reporting agency, recently reported that the percentage of people late on their credit card payments has risen in the second quarter from the same time last year.

It also reported that the average debt per credit card holder rose 8.6 percent.

For the quarter ending June 30, 1.04 percent of credit card holders were delinquent at least 90 days on one or more of their credit cards (compared with .91 percent of consumers for the second quarter from the same time last year).

The White House opposed the bill, saying it would ultimately result in higher interest rates for Americans, but it didn’t go as far as threatening to veto it.

Republican opponents said the Federal Reserve is already planning new regulations that would address the issues proponents of the bill are concerned with.

Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the chief sponsor of the bill and the House Financing Services Financial Institutions Subcommittee chairperson, said much of the language in the bill copies the Fed’s proposed regulations.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where it’s already facing mixed reviews.

Did you know...

...That Chapter 7 bankruptcy was designed to eliminate credit card debt?

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

In a recent poll run by CNN and Opinion Research, most people said they believe the U.S. government should step in to boost the struggling economy, but not without hesitancy.

The poll found that:

  • 79 percent of people are “worried” that the economy would get worse if the government failed to take action;
  • of that 79 percent, 40 percent said they were “very worried” and 49 percent were “somewhat worried"

Interestingly, 36 percent of those polled also said that they were “very worried” that the people who initially caused the economic problems would financially benefit if the government stepped in.

41 percent said they were “somewhat worried” that the problem-causers would benefit from a government bailout.

Stay tuned to Total Bankruptcy for more news about the economy, bankruptcy and foreclosure.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

Retailers Go Bust & Gift Cards Turn to Dust?

Consumer groups sent a petition to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week asking federal authorities to do more to keep consumers from losing money on gift cards from retailers that went bankrupt.

The petition was initiated by the California office of Consumers Union, the Consumers Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center and the U.S. PIRG.

Consumers Lose When Companies Go Bankruptcy

They said they don’t think consumers should have to suffer and lose money because a company was unable to keep its head above water.

"We made the filing to try to upgrade consumer protections on cards that are poorly protected," said U.S. PIRG consumer program director Ed Mierzwinski.

He added that the ultimate goal is to bring all card products up to the standards in the Truth in Lending Act, "People think all plastic is the same—it isn't," Mierzwinski said.

Among other requests, the petition asked the FTC to:

  • Ask that the court require the bankrupt company to accept its own gift cards at full value while the retailer is still open
  • Create and keep a new FTC registry on bankrupt retailers' gift card practices
  • Force bankrupt companies to stop selling gift cards no later than the bankruptcy filing date
  • Require third-party vendors to stop selling the bankrupt cards
Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

We’ve been talking a lot about big business and government bailouts—but what about the rest of us?

The government doesn’t appear to be handing billions of dollars over to the pockets of individual Americans who may need the help just as much as Fannie, Freddie or AIG.

Check out Total Bankruptcy’s new article, Dealing With the Aftermath of Student Loans, which highlights the very real financial problems college students are facing even before they head out into the “real world”.

Another recent article details the struggle of the low-income worker. Read about how a new report shows the number of low-income workers has risen due to the troubled American economy.

Let us not forget that bankruptcy is not only dominating the corporate scene, but also hitting us at home more than ever.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Yesterday leaders in both the House and the Senate said there could be legislative action before year-end to address the Wall Street crisis and the resulting repercussions pushed onto Americans.

"We're hoping that the administration will make some proposal about that and perhaps we will, as well, when we see where the failures are most glaring," said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). "I don't think the American people want us to wait until next year."

Pelosi asked the House Budget Committee to examine the fiscal consequences of the government bailouts, including the threat that they could inflate budget deficits, which are already pushing the envelope.

The Financial Services and Government Oversight committees are already are planning hearings.

Stocks soared as word spread throughout the market that Treasury Secretary Hendry Paulson Jr. was planning to create a more comprehensive way to deal with struggling financial institutions.

In fact, the Dow Jones shot up more than 400 points after investors heard the reports.

With the U.S. government recently shoveling out tens of billions of taxpayer dollars for financial company bailouts, legislators have come up with some of their own plans to get Wall Street in line and to improve America’s financial health.

Here are some examples of the proposed plans and the lawmakers who helped to developed them:

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY): Wants to establish a new government agency that supplies struggling financial companies with cash provisions.

In exchange, the agency would take an equity stake in the bank and the bank would be obligated to allow bankruptcy courts to modify home loans during the filing bankruptcy proceeding, which is currently barred.

Those efforts were crushed by heavy opposition from the banking industry, saying that lenders would just charge higher interest rates for home loans to offset the chance that a bankruptcy judge might modify the loan.

Reps. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH): Want to establish a bipartisan committee to investigate the recent government bailouts and the actions of the Bush administration.

They and other lawmakers are calling on the White House to stop bailing out financial institutions.

"It is time to bail out the American taxpayer from bailout mania," said Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, who chairs the Republican Study Committee. "Today, House conservatives are calling upon the Treasury, the Fed and Congress to end the bailouts."

Hensarling added that any short-term gain is not worth the ultimate cost, citing Japan’s era of economic decline after the government attempted to save struggling Japanese companies.

A Republican back lash has been growing against the Bush administration and its unprecedented financial bailouts as GOP leaders say they haven’t been briefed on the deteriorating Wall Street crisis.

There’s also loud bipartisan disgruntle over the fact that the Bush administration has been working almost entirely behind the backs of the other branches of government.

The White House responded by saying that they had to act quickly and that Federal Reserve and Treasury Department officials were briefed about the AIG takeover.

The Bush administration is also facing criticism that after years of saying it didn’t believe in “big” government and rejecting market-regulation legislation, it is now acting hypocritically.

“[Bush’s] philosophy of non-government has come back to haunt him," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), commenting on the White House’s alleged about-face.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

AIG: Taxpayers To The Rescue, As Usual

So, we know that the government’s $85 billion handout to AIG (American International Group, Inc.) had to come from somewhere—the Feds didn’t just turn on the printing press to manufacture more cash.

No—they had to dip into our taxpayer money to bailout the insurance company.

This news comes after the Congressional Budget Office released a report last week that the federal budget deficit will increase by $246 billion over last year, for a grand total of a $407 billion federal deficit.

Last year—when the deficit was “a mere” $161 billion—the government attributed part of the spending increase to it covering “the insured deposits of insolvent financial institutions,” according to the agency.

That $246 billion increase didn’t even cover the recent government bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Although no one knows the exact cost of the Fannie and Freddie bailout, we expect it to be as much as $100 billion.

The Details

Not only is this costing American the taxpayer, but now the U.S. government has a 79.9 percent stake in one of the top insurance companies in the world. This wasn’t just an act to lend a helping hand—this was a government takeover.

AIG said it will fully repay the loan (with an interest rate of about 11.5 percent) by selling some of its assets. It’s up to AIG to determine what gets sold and when it happens.

The government will have veto power in that decision.

According to The Wall Street Journal, AIG’s current CEO, Robert Willumstad, is anticipated to be replaced by the former CEO of Allstate Corp., Edward Liddy, according to an unnamed source close to the deal.

With a 79.9 percent share, the government also has the right to remove senior management.

Looks Like We’re Seeing A Trend

These company fallouts have been the result of the sub-prime loan fiasco and Wall Streeter’s greedy money manipulations.

If the government is in such a deficit, it's no surprise that its citizens are feeling the crunch too. More people are filing bankruptcy and mortgage foreclosures are becoming much more frequent than previous years.

The Fed said the deal was necessary because the company’s failure would threaten the health of the already brittle economy.

AIG’s failure could “lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth and materially weaker economic performance,” the Fed said in a statement. The White House said it backs the Fed’s decision.

Many are applauding the move, including New York Governor David Paterson who said “Policy holders will be protected, jobs will be saved.”

As usual, taxpayers aren’t getting much of a say in the matter.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

More Financial Meltdown as Lehman Files Ch. 11

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 500 points--more than 4 percent. The last time we saw a drop like that was when the stock market reopened after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The drop resulted in an estimated $700 billion vanishing from investment portfolios such as retirement plans and government pension funds.

After investor confidence dropped, Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old investment bank, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. In an effort to avoid Lehman’s fate, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America.

To keep money moving amidst the financial turmoil, the federal government pumped a total of $70 billion into the nation’s financial system through open market operations.

The White House is trying to calm the public’s economic fears. President Bush held a press conference to discuss the Lehman bankruptcy.

“In the short run, adjustments in the financial markets can be painful both for people concerned about their investments and for the employees of the affected firms,” said Bush in the press conference yesterday.

“In the long run, I’m confident that our capital markets are flexible and resilient and can deal with these adjustments.”

Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, said in a new TV ad that he was the person who could fix the financial problems, as he promised to clean up “greed and corruption” on Wall Street. He also said that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, called the current financial turmoil “the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.”

He further said that McCain would only deliver more of the same White House policies that have since failed the system.

Lehman, Merrill & You

While the politicians battle it out and the media collects the sound bites, let’s examine what these recent upheavals in the American financial system means to the rest of us.

The stock market has been manipulated by reckless investing and overinflated prices by Wall Street investors for a long time.

The market is now in need of a recovery period. From now on, it will act more conservatively and it will be more difficult to raise money.

This could put pressure on the already struggling middle and lower class.

Truth is, the average 401k investor lost about 4 percent of his or her nest egg due to the huge drop on Monday.

Financial experts are saying not to sell stock, repeating themselves as they usually do, saying “don’t panic, keep strong, don’t pull out and everything will even out in the long run.” History has typically proven that to be true.

One thing financial experts say people can do to protect their investments is to make sure they don’t exceed FDIC insurance limits.

If you have more than $100,000 in a CD or IRA, it’s probably a good idea to spread your wealth across different banks.

Another concern is that the tough times will encourage lenders to tighten credit even more, making it more difficult not only for small and large companies to borrow money, but for individual homeowners as well.

This credit crackdown period will likely last for at least the next year as the market recovers.

Needless to say, although most financial experts are saying we’re not in a “fiscal-end-of-the-world scenario,” we should all be strapping on our seatbelts.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Countrywide Financial Corp. and a U.S. bankruptcy trustee submitted another proposal in an attempt to resolve claims that it manipulated the bankruptcy system by purposely losing or destroying more than $500,000 in mortgage checks from people in foreclosure and then charging them with late fees and legal costs.

The U.S. Trustee office, an arm of the Justice Department that oversees the bankruptcy system, has accused the lender of abusing the court system by levying hidden fees on bankrupt homeowners trying to cut their debts.

This proposal attempt followed an earlier proposal that was denied by a U.S. bankruptcy judge who said the first plan was too vague on how the bank would protect homeowners from this happening in the future.

In the newly proposed settlement, Countrywide dropped the demand that the judge bar Countrywide clients from suing for any damages related to the lost payments.

The company also removed a non-disparagement provision that may have stalled a wider investigation.

The new proposal also calls for the trustee to audit borrower accounts (at the trustee’s expense) to make sure the company is indeed cashing borrowers’ checks and not issuing unfitting fees.

In addition, borrowers would also receive itemized statements that would fully disclose any fees and detail their payoff amounts.

Countrywide also has allegations of lending and bankruptcy abuse in states that include Florida, Ohio and Georgia. Additionally, the FBI is investigating Countrywide.

Note: Countrywide was bought out earlier this year by Bank of America Corp., the second-largest bank in the United States according to its assets.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Frat House Filing Bankruptcy

This story has cheesy college movie written all over it: frat house is behind on the bills and looking for a way to save their beloved home before the bank comes to claim the land.

But instead of throwing a traditional keg party to raise funds, DePauw University’s Beta Theta Pi chapter filed bankruptcy.

The fraternity filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy to renegotiate their mortgage with the bank and stop foreclosure action on their frat house.

The school’s newspaper reports that the fraternity still owes on a $1 million mortgage for their 1999 house renovations.

This goes to show that the U.S. Bankruptcy Code can be cool, helping out frat boys in need.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Monday, September 8th, 2008

The Fannie & Freddie Government Bailout

The U.S. government announced yesterday that it will implement tighter control on troubled mortgage titans Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in an effort to save the companies from financial ruin.

Confidence in the companies has faded as property values plummet and mortgage foreclosures skyrocket.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulated the two companies’ transactions, will now run the companies.

The temporary public ownership plan would be the biggest fiscal bailout in U.S. history.

Together, the companies have lent $5.3 trillion of the total $12 trillion of outstanding mortgage debt in the United States and have lost more than $3 billion alone between April and June.

U.S. Treasure Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said in a press release that the FHFA will operate the companies in a “conservatorship.”

Under this plan, the government will guarantee the companies’ debt, bring in new management and provide fresh liquidity to make them less susceptible to the declining housing market.

The Congressional Budget Office said the move could potentially cost taxpayers $25 billion and it would take at least a year to remedy.

Presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain were briefed about the move this weekend.

McCain immediately backed the action while Obama said he would reserve judgment until he got more details on the issue saying, "We have to protect taxpayers and not bail out the shareholders and management.”

Are You Looking for a Bailout?

If you're struggling to make it day-to-day and can't pay the bills, you may want to learn more about filing bankruptcy.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • E-mail this story to a friend!