CreditSlips

I have generally been willing to give mortgage servicers, servicer support shops (like LPS), and foreclosure attorneys the benefit of the doubt when it comes to documentation irregularities (to put it mildly) in foreclosures.

Yesterday's hearing -- my Dealbook on it here -- was clearly all about political posturing: the Democrats are defensive about Dodd-Frank, rightly afraid that any change to it becomes a chance to repeal or gut, while the Republicans too often veer off into some free market rhetoric that really makes no sense when you are talking about financial institutions. Since when have banks been subject to the free market?

Bankruptcy filings in May dropped 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. There were almost 123,000 filings in May, which spread over the month's 21 business days, amounted to a daily filing rate of 5,845. That number also represents a 5.4% drop from April 2011. As always, these numbers come courtesy of Epiq Systems.

Story here about debt collectors using pseudonyms because of the abuse they get. I don't doubt it. Debt collectors aren't exactly popular folks. I was recently searching for cartoons of various consumer finance topics and there were by far the most about debt collectors, none flattering. But I don't think that makes it ok for a debt collector to use a pseudonym.

I've previously posted about my frustrations at being stranded abroad without a functioning credit card -- particularly at train stations -- and the refusal of American credit cards to adopt a technology that has been in my building laundry room for years.