CreditSlips

Still Deleveraging American Homeowners

11/26/13

We still have a ways to go, five years after the Global Financial Crisis.  Total mortgage debt has eased down from 10.5 trillion dollars to 9.3 trillion, but that 10% drop aligns poorly with the 25% drop in home values, not to mention stagnant real wages.  Reuters reports that home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) will be the next wave of defaults as many 10-year interest-only peri

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Her Majesty, the Vulture Investor

11/25/13

So this morning's FT tells us that Royal Bank of Scotland is in hot water for allegedly playing hardball with its borrowers, in the hopes of acquiring some of their assets on the cheap. That is RBS has adopted something of a "loan to own" strategy.

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Military Lending Act Has Loopholes Says NY Times Dealbook

11/22/13

Just as I was getting ready to roll out an article agreeing with Creola Johnson and explaining why Congress should implement a 36% cap, like the Military Lending Act, for all of us, the Dealbook rolled out this story.  A

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Securitization, Foreclosure, and the Uncertainty of Mortgage Title

11/18/13

I've got a new article out in the Duke Law Journal entitled The Paper Chase:  Securitization, Foreclosure, and the Uncertainty of Mortgage Title.  The article is about the confusion securitization has caused in foreclosure cases because of the shift in legal methods for mortgage transfer and title that accompanied securitization. 

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Voice--the credit card, not the TV show

11/18/13

For years, "product innovation" in financial services made consumer advocates squirm. This was the cover term for the 2/28 teaser ARM, automatic and costly overdraft protection, and direct deposit "payday" style loans. It was a great term because it's hard to be anti-innovation, especially in a world where every day a new app or technology proves useful. A new credit card, called "Voice" from Huntington Bank, is innovating in the credit card space.

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You Say "EBIA," I Say "Bellingham," We All Say "Pottow"

11/12/13

Credit Slips contributor John Pottow will be arguing the upcoming EBIA v. Arkison (née Bellingham) case in the U.S. Supreme Court. As briefly summarized in an earlier post, the question in the case has to do with federal bankruptcy court jurisdiction over a lawsuit within a bankruptcy case, namely a fraudulent transfer action.

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Research Symposium at Suffolk Law on Student Loans

11/10/13

Suffolk Law School and the National Consumer Law Center are convening a Research Symposium on Student Loans in Boston on April 10th and 11th.  The goal of the Symposium, which is invitation-only, is to bring together the nation’s top experts, including academics, attorneys, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and government officials, to discuss research and policy related to student loans. We invite paper proposals that are empirical, qualitative, theoretical or policy-oriented.  Topics of particular interest are:

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