Bankruptcy Blogs

What's the Point of Billable Rates?

08/25/12

Felix Salmon has a very insightful post about lawyers' hourly billing rates.  His take:

differences in billable rates are basically an accounting fiction, which is used to come up with a calculable final figure to be presented as the bill, but which do not actually reflect the difference in value between various strata of lawyers. 

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When Will a Bankruptcy Court Allow a Late-Filed Claim?

08/25/12

Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 3003(c)(3) provides that "the [bankruptcy] court shall fix and for cause shown may extend the time within which proofs of claim or interest may be filed."  For various reasons, creditors sometimes miss the claims "bar date" and need to seek permission from the court to file a late filed claim or deem the late-filed claim allowed.  In order to succeed, the creditor must convince the court that the late claim was the result of excusable neglect.  In re Garden Ridge Corp., 348 B.R. 642, 645 (Bankr. D. Del.

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The Risks of Co-Signing a Loan

08/25/12

Co-signing a loan is a dangerous thing. Too many people end up in bankruptcy due to debts they just co-signed for, so here are a few points worth considering before co-signing for a friend or family member.

1. There is a reason they need a co-signor. A professional lender does not think they will pay the money back. An objective professional (or underwriting standards) arrived at this judgment. Why do you think you know differently?

2. If they do not pay or miss payments, it will affect your credit.

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Cramdown and the Cost of Mortgage Credit

08/25/12

Joshua Goodman at the Harvard Kennedy School and I have a new paper out examining the impact of Chapter 13 cramdown on the cost and availability of mortgage credit.  Historically, when cramdown was permitted in some judicial districts prior to 1993 it was associated with a statistically significant, if small, increase in the cost of credit.

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Payday and Title Loan News Today

08/24/12

If you are interested in two fascinating stories on payday and title lending, check out these two links.

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Lightning Fast, Dirt Cheap: Bitcoin Shows What Banking Could Be

08/24/12

Bitcoin lets users send money nearly instantaneously, at almost no cost, and (if desired) anonymously. Getting funds in and out of the system is the hard part. That may soon change.

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The Broke and the Beautiful: Barely There Edition

08/24/12

This week on The Broke and the Beautiful, celebrities are treading lightly in the bankruptcy waters, but Broke still has some morsels for you. Former baseball star Curt Schilling rags on the governor of Rhode Island, and boxer Mike Tyson is hitting up an investor forum in China. Also, Warren Sapp has a new book.

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Fannie and Freddie Should Not Be Resurrected

08/24/12

Politicians, regulators and lenders still have much to learn from a period dominated by the "affordable housing" ideology.

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Does Citi's CEO Know What He's Talking About?

08/24/12

Vikram Pandit's recent comments about Citi's size may provide insight into why this once-proud institution now limps along as one of the weakest of the bailed out, Too Big to Behave Banks.

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