CreditSlips

Good times in the economy mean goods times a few years later for bankruptcy professionals who deal with consumer cases.  We saw this from the mid-1990s through the 2000s. The last big party in the bankruptcy world was in 2010 (1.5 million non-business cases filed!), a few years after the end of the last debt binge came to a crashing halt starting in 2007.  The reverse is also true.  Bad times in the economy make for fewer bankruptcy filings a few years later, which is what we have been seeing lately.

The Friday decision in NML et al. v. Argentina has clearly shaken the sovereign universe.

NYU has created a bit of stir in legal education by announcing that it will start mandating a financial literacy course for all of its students. I think this is a fantastic move from a pedagogical angle, a career angle, and a public interest angle.  Some thoughts on this below, as I think it relates in part to Credit Slips' larger discussion of finance and society.  

Yes, we know they do, but a Bloomberg story this morning caught my eye. I’ve known for quite a while that Wells Fargo and First Third Bank offered these payday-style loans, called direct deposit advances or ready advances, and also that certain bank customers get these prompts for this “service” EVERY time they go to an ATM. In fact, I know a woman who has one of these loans out from Wells Fargo pretty much at all times, except when once a year they ask her to clear it, at which point she goes to another payday lender to pay it off.