Bankruptcy Blogs

Forty-nine minutes of contempt (Argentina edition)

02/14/13

The briefs have been filed in NML v. Argentina (a complete set here), and the Second Circuit has revised the hearing schedule, expanding the time for oral argument on February 27 to a total of 49 minutes.

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Poor Communication After a Merger Drives Customers Away

02/14/13

Changes to product offerings and pricing give the impression that the new bank does not have the customers' best interests at heart. Feeling undervalued is a key emotional reason they defect.

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Memo to Washington: Time to Tackle Housing Finance Reform

02/14/13

Congress is afraid to tackle this complicated and contentious issue, but the market badly needs positive signals from our lawmakers that provide certainty about the future of housing finance.

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U.K. Regulator to Libor Panel Banks: You Can Check Out Anytime You Like ... But You Can Never Leave

02/14/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Jack Lew's Confirmation Hearing: According to the Post, "The questions from the Senate Finance Committee, which is vetting Lew, reflected the widening responsibilities of the Treasury secretary, a role that shapes policy on trade, taxes, economic growth - and now banking regulation." Despite pointed questions about his lucrative work at Citigroup, his Cayman Islands hedge fund investment, etc., "Lew handled the confirmation so smoothly that toward the end of the hearing, Republicans...

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Actually, Disparate Impact Rule Discourages Racial Quotas

02/14/13

The oft-mischaracterized HUD rule will discourage any race-based decision making and minimize lawsuits. Why would any lender want to continue a practice with a discriminatory effect but no business objective?

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Does Contract To Sell House Forfeit Homestead Exemption?

02/14/13

A caller this week was interested in filing bankruptcy but is concerned about preserving a valuable homestead owned free and clear. The caller stated that he had signed a contract to sell the house for about $500,000. He is concerned about protecting the house and sales proceeds in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

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A Final Pet Peeve: The Right to Consumer Financial Industry Data

02/13/13

Thank you to the Credit Slips team for allowing me to use their soapbox for the last few weeks.  I leave you with a final pet peeve: Why does the government have to rely on commercially-collected financial industry data sets or voluntary surveys of financial firms to discover the effects of policies the government has put in place? This is just embarrassing. The U.S. government has so little power over the financial industry – an industry that only exists by virtue of the full faith and credit, payments systems, FDIC insurance, etc.

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