Bankruptcy Blogs

Q&A: How Can Lenders Navigate Health Care Bankruptcies?

07/31/14
Reuters/Scott Audette

When a health-care company, particularly a hospital, files for Chapter 11 protection, it’s not your typical bankruptcy case.

[more]

Why We Should Scrap Mortgage Interest Deductions

07/31/14

The mortgage interest tax deduction is supposed to encourage homeownership among low- and middle-income Americans. But it primarily benefits higher-income taxpayers, according to a new study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

[more]

The Daily Docket: Judge Says Lehman Trustee Can Create $3B Fund for Creditors

07/31/14

A judge on Wednesday said the trustee unwinding Lehman Brothers Inc. could create a $3 billion-plus fund to pay back unsecured creditors of the brokerage. The Wall Street Journal has the Daily Bankruptcy Review article here.

[more]

Morning Scan: Judge Fines B of A in 'Hustle' Case; Fed Sees Good Signs

07/31/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

B of A to Pay for 'Hustle': Federal Judge Jed Rakoff ordered Bank of America to pay $1.3 billion for selling toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as part of its so-called "Hustle" program. The $1.3 billion penalty was less than the $2.1 billion the government sought, but "greatly in excess of what the bank hoped to pay," the Financial Times reported. Rakoff, who called the scheme "brazen fraud," also...

[more]

It Depends, Argentina Edition

07/30/14

The phrase "it depends" was invented 130 year ago by a small group of drunk lawyers from London and New York for the sole purpose of annoying first-year law students, nonlawyers, and people from civil law jurisdictions. Like all things annoying, "it depends" is enjoying a surge in popularity as tensions spike in the Argentine debt saga."It depends" is a magically useful phrase because it can cover up ignorance, describe uncertainty, or assign probabilities in a risky situation.

[more]

Crumbs Suitor Lemonis a Cupcake Critic—And Cupcake Baker, Too

07/30/14
Marcus Lemonis (right), the CEO of an RV and camping company, during a scene from The Profit, his CNBC business-makeover show.
Heidi Gutman/CNBC
[more]

How Community Banks Can Overcome Seller's Reluctance

07/30/14

Bank owners can make more objective decisions about whether it's the right time to sell by comparing the value of holding onto the bank to its private market price and instating an external review process, writes consultant J.V. Rizzi.

[more]

Small-Dollar Loans to Servicemembers, the Electronics Version (or an Easy Way to Get Around the Military Lending Act)

07/30/14

Yesterday the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with 13 state attorneys general (including from my new home state of Indiana), announced a $92 million settlement and issued an enforcement action against Colfax Capital Corporation and Cul

[more]

A Diminished Banking System Is Bad for Americans

07/30/14

Community banks are disappearing and big banks' global power is on the wane. Regulators should take steps to reverse these trends so that all Americans have access to the financial services they need, according to the American Bankers Association's Wayne Abernathy.

[more]

Morning Scan: DOJ Extends Barclays Probe; Lawsky Wants Internal Monitors

07/30/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Forex Probe Update: U.S. prosecutors have stepped up their probe into Barclays' alleged foreign exchange manipulation, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Financial Times all report. The London bank said the U.S. extended a pact known as a "nonprosecution agreement" in the investigation. The new pact gives the Justice Department more time to decide if Barclays breached the 2012 nonprosecution agreement it had previously signed not to commit crimes in...

[more]