CreditSlips

Principal Write-Down Pilot Program in Massachusetts

01/03/12

A Boston nonprofit, Boston Community Capital, is teaming up with some financial institutions, in particular Bank of America, in a pilot program that has the effect of writing down mortgages to close to home value. http://www.npr.org/2012/01/02/143601604/in-mortgage-crisis-some-banks-agree-to-cut-losses

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Anna's Revenge, Episode I

01/03/12

We may be beginning to see the fallout from Stern v. Marshall, the Supreme Court case on bankruptcy jurisdiction courtesy of Anna Nicole Smith's bankruptcy. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a broad decision that would call into question the power of the bankruptcy court to hear many state-law defenses to creditor's claims in bankruptcy. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first court of appeals decision applying Stern.

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Maryland Courts Require More Proof in Debt Collection Cases, Ringing in Some Debt Collection Cheer

01/03/12

In many states, a creditor or debt collector can easily obtain a default judgment with just a person’s name, last known address and Social Security number, and the judgment can follow the person around for years despite that the debt was never proven.

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A New Theory of the Role of the GSEs in the Housing Bubble

12/31/11

Bill Black has an interesting new take on the role of Fannie and Freddie in the housing bubble. He sees their investment in non-prime mortgages as being driven by executive compensation, rather than a fight for market share against investment bank securitization conduits or govt affordable housing policy.

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Anna Nicole Smith, the Constitution, and Bankruptcy

12/29/11

To all law profs out there who plan to attend next week's Association of American Law Schools annual meeting, be sure not to miss the Creditors' and Debtors' Rights section program Saturday morning at 8:30.   The theme of the program:  "Marathon at 30:  A Retrospective on Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction in the Shadow of Article III."  Bankruptcy Judge J.

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Whence Corporate Bankruptcy

12/28/11

A correspondent and I were discussing the changes wrought by the 1978 enactment of the current U.S. Bankruptcy Code. My correspondent noted that corporate bankruptcy became more salient after 1978 and linked this phenomenon to the 1978 law. My perception is the same: corporate bankruptcy became more salient after the 1978 enactment of the Bankruptcy Code, and my guess would be that many experts would have the same reaction.

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Your Favorite Business Bankruptcy/Restructuring Lingo?

12/28/11

One more quick poll: off the top of your head, what lingo/cryptic terms do business bankruptcy professionals use regularly that are important to understanding the operation of the system in the real world (e.g., DIPs, cramdown, roll-ups, carve-out, stalking horse)? We talk about lingo in the basic bankruptcy class, but I want students to engage more with the concepts in the advanced class.

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More Rot in the OCC Foreclosure Reviews

12/27/11

Michael Olenick, Gretchen Morgenson, and Yves Smith have all written pretty damning things about the

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One in Five American Families Have Medical Bill Problems

12/26/11

According to this new report. As Mirya Holman and I have explained in the bankruptcy context, measuring medical bill problems and debt is notoriously contested, but the Center for Studying Health System Change does try to make clear its methods and also uses similar metrics over time.

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