Saturday, December 31, 2011

Filing bankruptcy in Arizona: Credit card companies are unforgiving

I am a bankruptcy attorney in Phoenix ($995/Chapter 7) and one thing I've learned from clients is how unreasonable credit card companies have become. Several years ago they would work with you if you got behind on payments. There were more banks offering credit cards and it was very competitive to get your business. Now they have become very rigid and unwilling to give consumers a break. Even though they can pull "soft credit reports" on you to see that you are up to your ears in debt and cannot possibly stick to their strict terms, they won't back down or try to offer you a reasonable settlement on your debt. I see the offers they have given my clients and they're unrealistic for someone who has just lost a job or encountered huge medical bills. For example, if you're behind on $5000 in debt, they'll offer to settle with you for $4000. The problem is how are you going to come up with $4000? Then they send the debt to a third-party debt collector or attorney. Once the attorneys take over, it's a matter of weeks or at most a few months until they take you to court and get a judgment against you. Within days of getting a judgment they can start garnishing your paycheck. If you are self-employed, they can get at that money too sometimes. They can also seize your tax refunds. If you have a bank account with the same bank that holds your credit card, they don't even need to take you to court to get a judgment against you, the second you get behind in payments they can seize all but $300 from your bank account.

We have many clients who come to us who have tried to use debt management companies to help them work on their debt, but they have no luck (do a google search to see how realistic going that route is). For most people with unaffordable credit card debt, the best solution is to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Call us now to set up a free consultation.

The Alexander Bankruptcy Law Firm provides low low cost Chapter 7 and 13 personal bankruptcies. $995 Chapter 7 or $2500 Chapter 13 bankruptcies plus court filing fee. Free consultation with a compassionate attorney who will handle your case personally. Call 24/7, available to meet with you around your schedule. 602-910-6812. Conveniently located in Central Phoenix along the Camelback corridor. AlexanderBankruptcyLawFirm.com

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Arizona: The scoop about the lowest priced bankruptcy lawyers

I am a bankruptcy lawyer in Arizona ($995/Chapter 7) and one thing I've discovered is that not all bankruptcy attorneys are consistent in their pricing. Some may advertise a very inexpensive flat fee but when you come into their office for a consultation, you are quoted a much higher price. One law firm in town advertises that they charge $995 for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but when you come in to consult with them, they explain that fee is only for people on a fixed income. That firm and many other firms also charge extra fees for things like copying, phone calls, emails, the mandatory court 341 meeting, credit reports and the initial consultation.

I don't charge clients for any of those extras. The only additional costs a client can expect are the $299 court filing fee and the price of the two online credit and financial courses required by law, which can be taken as cheaply as $5 and $12. 

So do your homework when finding a bankruptcy lawyer. If you are considering setting up a consultation with a law firm, ask them first on the phone if they charge for those extra things mentioned above on top of the flat fee they advertise. The cheapest attorney you find on Google may end up being the most expensive!

A guide to mortgage refinancing as rates hit lows

Never have average rates on long-term fixed mortgages been as low as they are now: 3.91 percent for a 30-year home loan and 3.21 for a 15-year loan.
The new lows mark the eighth straight week in which the average on the 30-year loan has hovered near 4 percent.
Those rates make now a tantalizing time to refinance. And, with home prices having sunk in most areas of the country, many would-be buyers are tempted, too.
Yet the pace of refinancing and home buying has been mostly unchanged over the past year. That's mainly because so many Americans lack the home equity, credit scores or cash to refinance or buy. Many who do qualify to buy or refinance have already done so.
Here's a look at whether and why it makes sense to refinance or buy.

Read the rest of the article at Google News

Record low mortgage rates drop even lower

Record low mortgage rates push the average 30-year loan to 3.91 percent. But can these record low mortgage rates last?

Read the rest of the article at The Christian Science Monitor

Mortgage deals are there, if you look

Lenders and economists will tell you flat out: The lack of accurate information about the availability of loan programs that are designed to address special needs is discouraging far too many consumers from even considering an application, much less shopping around.

Mortgage banker Alex Stenback of the Residential Mortgage Group in Minnetonka, Minn., says he sees it every day: "People just aren't aware of what's possible right now" and as a result, they are missing real estate prices and long-term interest rate opportunities they shouldn't. Doug Lebda, founder and CEO of LendingTree, the online site that allows banks to make competing offers to applicants, believes that "the fear of being rejected" because they don't conform to standards that may not even exist, is keeping qualified applicants on the sidelines for no reason.

Read the rest of the article at the Hartford Courant

Foreclosed Homeowners Sue Mortgage Giants

In a federal class action, foreclosed homeowners sued Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other "leading providers of residential real estate mortgages," claiming their disregard for underwriting standards caused the mortgage meltdown, which brought more than 930,000 foreclosure filings in the third quarter of 2010 alone.
IndyMac Bank and Countrywide Financial are among the host of mortgage originators named in the 101-page complaint, which seeks damages for the 11 named plaintiffs whose "credit ratings and histories were damaged or destroyed."

Read the rest at Courthouse News Service

What Fannie and Freddie Knew

Democrats have spent years arguing that private lenders created the housing boom and bust, and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac merely came along for the ride. This was always a politically convenient fiction, and now thanks to the unlikely source of the Securities and Exchange Commission we have a trail of evidence showing how the failed mortgage giants turbocharged the crisis.

That's the story revealed Friday by the SEC's civil lawsuits against six former Fannie and Freddie executives, including a pair of CEOs. The SEC says the companies defrauded investors because they "knew and approved of misleading statements" about Fan and Fred's exposure to subprime loans, and it chronicles their push to expand the business.

Read the rest of the article at the Wall Street Journal

Mortgage Default Is A Financial Bonanza For Many Homeowners As Foreclosure Crisis Continues

Those homeowners who made conservative financial decisions, saved for a significant down payment and are making their mortgage payments on time even if it involves financial sacrifice may wonder if the government is being fair.

Higher income groups apparently made a rational and rapid decision that default was the best option. Why continue making a large mortgage payment on a house that is worth considerably less than the mortgage balance? Does anyone really think that a house purchased for $1 million 5 years ago and now valued at under $400,000 will increase in value by 150% any time soon?

Massive, expensive and time consuming government programs to “modify” mortgages have basically been a disaster which have extended the housing crisis to the same degree as foreclosure moratoriums. Since 2008 a total of 2,258,026 mortgages have been modified, resulting in payment reductions of up to 35% or $567 per month.

A recent study predicts that the foreclosure crisis in not even in the fifth inning yet.

Read the rest of the article at Problem Bank List

U.S. Reps Miller and Jones Call for Investigation of Illegal Foreclosures of U.S. Servicemembers

U.S. Reps. Brad Miller (D-NC) and Walter Jones (R-NC) today called on the United States Justice Department to investigate thoroughly and prosecute vigorously violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) that resulted in the illegal foreclosure of active duty servicemembers’ homes while some served in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Reps. Miller and Jones cited the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) requirement to review some 5,000 improper foreclosures on military personnel by ten mortgage servicers or banks that may be in violation of the SCRA.

Read the rest of the article at LoanSafe

Foreclosure program's demise brings jeers

The 20th Judicial Circuit in Lee County and other circuits across the state are in a tizzy over how to proceed in the wake of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision Monday to terminate the state’s mandatory foreclosure mediation program.

“Literally everything across the state is upside down,” said Jonathan D. Conant, president of the Conant Mediation Center, which manages the state program for the 20th Judicial Circuit, which covers Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties.

Read the rest of the article at News-Press

Michigan Governor Signs Bills to Help Prevent Foreclosures

Highlights of the legislation include requirements for lenders to provide written notification to people facing foreclosure. That notification must include a list of housing counselors, as well as the date the foreclosure proceedings are scheduled to begin. That way, homeowners can get immediate advice on their situation.

Read the rest of the article at WHTC

Lawyer seeks class status for robo-signing lawsuit

A lawyer in Las Vegas has filed a civil lawsuit seeking class-action status on behalf of homeowners he says have been hurt by the filing of fraudulent foreclosure documents during an alleged "robo-siging" scheme.

Matthew Callister said he wants a state judge to stop tainted home sales and evictions and order Lender Processing Services Inc. and several bank and mortgage companies to modify loans and pay monetary damages to affected homeowners.

"This is to say, 'Stop. Let us try to modify the loan appropriately,'" Callister said. "Then we'll seek damages."

Read the rest of the article at CBS News

Foreclosures by major banks increase 21.1% in third quarter

The jump in foreclosures from the second quarter came as mortgage servicers lifted holds they instituted as authorities investigated faulty paperwork. Separate research showed homes en route to being seized fell 15.8% in October from a year earlier.

Read the rest of the article at the Los Angeles Times

Foreclosures May Delay Housing Rebound to 2013

The two-bedroom Denver row house that Kyle and Jennifer Zinth bought in 2005 is a tight fit now that they have an 18-month-old son, Max, and a coonhound named Beauregard. They plan to put it up for sale next month, hoping to at least break even so they can buy a larger home.
“My understanding is it’s a better time to buy than sell,” Kyle Zinth, 34, a paralegal, said in a telephone interview. “If we can get out of this one without financial harm and get a good deal on the next place, then that’s ideal under present market realities.”
The Zinths are wading back into a U.S. housing market where prices may fall further under the weight of foreclosures and not rebound until 2013, even as the economy builds momentum and mortgage rates fall to record lows, according to a survey of 109 economists released this week by Zillow Inc. When values do rise, the gains probably won’t match those seen in the years prior to the bursting of the bubble in 2006.

Read the rest of the article at Bloomberg

US cities declare bankruptcy crisis

With less than a year to go until America elects its next president, the country has been warned of a looming new economic crisis.

Major cities across the United States are declaring themselves bankrupt in the face of huge debts and declining revenues.

Birmingham, in Alabama, and Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania, are the latest high-profile cities to file for bankruptcy. Analysts warn as many as 100 American cities are at risk.

Read the rest of the article at SkyNews

Reform has made filing bankruptcy more costly

Bankruptcy is a way to escape from debt, but it doesn't come without a price — and consumers now pay as much as 55% more since the 2005 bankruptcy reform was passed.
The average cost of Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases has jumped from $900 to $1,399, according to a national study released on Dec. 15 by the American Bankruptcy Institute.
The study looks at major changes to the consumer bankruptcy system. Bankruptcy filing costs more and takes much longer because it is more complicated and cumbersome. And because attorney fees typically must be paid upfront, debtors often must hold off on filing until they can first sock away enough cash. Among changes from the bankruptcy reform bill:

Read the rest of the article at USA Today

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Filing bankruptcy in Phoenix: Putting your student loan debt on your credit cards then filing bankruptcy?

I am a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona (Chapter 7/$995) and frequently hear clients complain that student loan debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Perhaps this is part of the reason why the Occupy Wall Street protesters are so upset about student loan debt. Why are credit cards dischargeable but student loans aren't? Student loans were taken out for a legitimate serious purpose, whereas credit cards could be used to buy anything, no matter how frivolous. You can thank Congress for setting the laws up this way.

One way some have worked the system to get rid of their student loans is to pay them off using their credit cards, then file for bankruptcy. This does not seem very ethical and is risky since the bankruptcy trustee will likely see what you have done when you file for bankruptcy. For more on this subject and some advice on what to do if you have student loan debt, click here.

The Alexander Bankruptcy Law Firm provides low low cost Chapter 7 and 13 personal bankruptcies. $995 Chapter 7 or $2500 Chapter 13 bankruptcies plus court filing fee. Free consultation with a compassionate attorney who will handle your case personally. Call 24/7, available to meet with you around your schedule. 602-910-6812. Conveniently located in Central Phoenix along the Camelback corridor. AlexanderBankruptcyLawFirm.com

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Arizona: Short sales and discharging taxes

I am a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona ($995/Chapter 7) and two of the most common questions clients ask me about are what their options are on their house and can they discharge past due taxes. Most people want to keep their home, and filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Arizona will allow them to as long as they don't have more than $150,000 equity in their home. This is not a problem since I rarely encounter any clients who have equity in their home; most people are underwater do to the economy. However they must be able to afford their mortgage payments. Many people have $1500 or $2000/mth mortgage payments that are difficult to afford right now. The federal government has set up a program to permit people to lower their payments, called the Home Affordability Mortgage Program (HAMP). Representative David Schweikert has created an office, the first of its kind, to help people work with their lenders to set up HAMP, since some banks have been difficult about negotiating this program with homeowners.

Homeowners who are unsuccessful obtaining this program frequently consider short selling, also known as strategic default. It allows a homeowner to sell their home back to the bank without owing any of the difference, walking away free and clear. It is not available in all states, only in "non-recourse" states like Arizona. Short selling affects your credit much less than foreclosing. It has become so prevalent in this economy that there is now a book available for $20 for download on how to short sell your house. Or you may want to find a real estate agent who specializes in short selling, like my friend Will Wright of Eagle First Realty (will@willliamwrightrealty.com or 480-216-6882). Short selling is not easy so it is best to study up extensively on it first or go with a professional like Will.

Most taxes are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, and the laws vary state by state. In Arizona, past due income taxes older than three years are dischargeable. For example, if you owe taxes on work from 2008, and those taxes were due on April 15, 2009, you would be eligible to file for bankruptcy and have those discharged on April 16, 2012 or later. There are a few exceptions; if the tax debt was "assessed" or there was an Offer of Compromise, that adds a 240-day period of dischargeability. Or if you obtained an extension.

The Alexander Bankruptcy Law Firm provides low low cost Chapter 7 and 13 personal bankruptcies. $995 Chapter 7 or $2500 Chapter 13 bankruptcies plus court filing fee. Free consultation with a compassionate attorney who will handle your case personally. Call 24/7, available to meet with you around your schedule. 602-910-6812. Conveniently located in Central Phoenix along the Camelback corridor. AlexanderBankruptcyLawFirm.com

Monday, December 12, 2011

Senator Jack Harper wants to change Arizona's non-recourse status

The head of a key House committee wants to scrap state laws that now allow homeowners who are “under water’’ on their homes to simply walk away.
Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, says Arizona’s status as one of a handful of “non-recourse’’ states is keeping the real estate market from recovering here. He contends that having people abandon their homes further depresses the value of nearby homes.
“The idea is to keep people from being encouraged to just walk away from their house any time they’re a little bit upside-down’’ on their mortgage, he said.
But the move is getting a fight from the Arizona Association of Realtors. Tom Farley, the group’s chief executive officer, vowed to “utilize every resource that we have here in protecting consumers.’’

Read the rest of the article at the Sierra Vista Herald

Filing bankruptcy in Arizona: How bad is it, really?

I am a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona ($995/Chapter 7) and encounter many people who are nervous about filing personal bankruptcy because they think they may lose some of their property, are worried about the stigma, and think they cannot afford it. All of these worries are usually unnecessary. Most clients will get to keep everything they own (one exception is if you own a nice car with a lot of equity in it - but most people don't, they are still making payments on their cars). There is little stigma, because who will know you filed for bankruptcy other than a few faceless creditors? Although bankruptcy is a public record, it's not published anywhere and the average member of the public does not have a login to federal court to find your filing. Finally, bankruptcy is not that expensive. I charge a low flat $995 fee for Chapter 7 (includes both spouses), plus the $299 court filing fee. Other than the cost of two required online financial classes (as cheap as $5 and $12.50), there are no other expenses (other bankruptcy attorneys may charge differently).

If you are paying huge bills every month to credit card, medical debt, or other dischargeable debt, you will never see that money again. Every day you put off bankruptcy is hundreds of dollars you could have saved. If you live in Arizona, set up a free consultation with us to get a better understanding.

The Alexander Bankruptcy Law Firm provides low low cost Chapter 7 and 13 personal bankruptcies. $995 Chapter 7 or $2500 Chapter 13 bankruptcies plus court filing fee. Free consultation with a compassionate attorney who will handle your case personally. Call 24/7, available to meet with you around your schedule. 602-326-9116. Conveniently located in Central Phoenix along the Camelback corridor. AlexanderBankruptcyLawFirm.com

How to get cash from your house through a reverse mortgage

I’m getting a lot of questions these days about “reverse mortgages,” which offer a way to unlock the equity in your home without selling it. The mounting interest in this topic speaks to the desperation many Americans feel as they struggle to fund increasingly long retirements.

In order to qualify for a reverse mortgage you must be 62 or older, own your home, have equity in that home, and can never have defaulted on a government loan. In addition, you must receive Home Equity Conversion Mortgage counseling before the loan can be consummated. The purpose of this last rule is to ensure you understand the unusual nature of the commitment you are making with a reverse mortgage.

Read the rest of the article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

Occupy Oakland: Reality behind 'liberated' homes

On Tuesday, activists stood in front of two West Oakland foreclosures, proclaiming that they had "reclaimed" or "liberated" the properties as part of the "Occupy Our Homes" national day of action organized by the Occupy movement and community groups to highlight the foreclosure crisis.

In both cases, others with legal claims to the properties said they had suffered harm from the occupations and disputed aspects of the protesters' narratives.

Read the rest of the article at the San Francisco Chronicle

What went wrong with foreclosure aid programs?

The Obama administration's initial foreclosure-prevention programs, launched in early 2009, were intended to help 7 million to 9 million people. So far, they've aided about 2 million, and not all of those are out of foreclosure danger.

Programs begun later have also faltered. One intended to help at least 500,000 has helped just a few hundred a year after its launch. Another initiative to extend $1 billion to help the jobless or underemployed avoid foreclosure ended in September, obligating less than half of its funds. The unused money went back to the U.S. Treasury.

As of Nov. 30, the government had spent just $2.8 billion of the $46 billion war chest it had in 2009 to devote to the housing crisis, the Treasury Department says. More has been committed, but only $13 billion will ultimately be spent, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in March.

"There was nowhere near the effort to help Main Street as there was to help the banks," says former senator Ted Kaufman, D-Del., who chaired a congressional oversight panel that oversaw $475 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. Most of that went to banks and the auto industry, but $46 billion in TARP money also funded foreclosure-prevention efforts.

Read the rest of the article at USA Today

Tips for Avoiding Foreclosure Aid Fraud

Phantom Help Scam
Rent to Buy Scam
Bait And Switch Scam

Read about these scams at Fox Business

Bankruptcies may offer hope for newspaper industry

I've covered many bankruptcies over the years, and last week was the first time I can remember a CEO calling the filing a "welcome event."
It was also the first time I've been an employee of a company that was headed into bankruptcy court. Lee Enterprises, which owns the Post-Dispatch, said Friday that it will make a prepackaged Chapter 11 filing on Dec. 12.
Chief Executive Mary Junck used the word "welcome" because the legal action will extend nearly $1 billion in debt that comes due in April. Most of the lenders have already agreed to new terms, so Lee expects to be in and out of court in 60 days. Unlike many bankrupt companies, Lee plans to pay all its bills, and shareholders' ownership will be diluted but not wiped out.

Read the rest of the article at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A First: Law Firm Finds New Life, Not Death, in Bankruptcy

A South Florida law firm recently used bankruptcy to do something no one in the legal industry has done before: sell itself to another firm.

Companies across corporate America, from Blockbuster to General Motors, have sought court protection while they try to sell continuing businesses to potential white knights. But until last week, law firms usually used bankruptcy to shut down.

So the $7.8 million cash-and-debt sale of midsize law firm Ruden McClosky out of bankruptcy to fellow South Florida law firm Greenspoon Marder made legal and bankruptcy history, as I reported in this WSJ story. What’s more, the deal will likely inspire other struggling law firms to turn to bankruptcy as a place to find new life rather than a place to die, restructuring professionals say.

Read the rest of the article at the Wall Street Journal

Saab to file for bankruptcy

Citing “several independent sources”, Swedish business daily Dagens Industri (DI) reported early on Monday that Saab's parent company Swedish Automobile (Swan) is expected to submit a bankruptcy petition on Monday afternoon to the Vännersborg District Court.

Read the rest of the article at The Local

The RoomStore files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

The RoomStore Inc., the last vestige of former home furnishings giant Heilig-Meyers Co., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning.

The Goochland County-base chain listed $55.97 million in assets and $52.45 million in debts, according to its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond.

Read the full article at The Richmond-Times Dispatch

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Filing bankruptcy in Arizona: Is my income too high?

I am a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona ($995/Chapter 7) and clients are frequently worried they make too much money to file bankruptcy. The 2005 changes to federal bankruptcy laws put in place an income cap eligibility requirement for filing Chapter 7 (you can still file Chapter 13 with a higher income).

Generally, you cannot file Chapter 7 if you make above the median income for your state. In Arizona, the median income is $42,603 per person, and for a spouse it is a total of $55,404 for both.

However, that is not an absolute bar. If you have legitimate expenses that reduce your income, you may be able to fit under the cap. Legitimate expenses include things like child support or alimony, mandatory retirement taken out of your paycheck, healthcare expenses, insurance, educational materials, union dues, as well as payroll taxes.

The Alexander Bankruptcy Law Firm provides low low cost Chapter 7 and 13 personal bankruptcies. $995 Chapter 7 or $2500 Chapter 13 bankruptcies plus court filing fee. Free consultation with a compassionate attorney who will handle your case personally. Call 24/7, available to meet with you around your schedule. 602-326-9116. Conveniently located in Central Phoenix along the Camelback corridor. AlexanderBankruptcyLawFirm.com

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

CFPB Begins Collecting Reverse Mortgage Complaints, Will Take Action

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has begun collecting and fielding mortgage complaints from borrowers, including those with reverse mortgages, the Bureau has announced via its official blog. Officials have said this information will be used to guide rule making in the future when it comes to mortgage products.

So far, the bureau has a similar collection under way for credit card complaints, which it began in July following the bureau’s official launch.

“While we’ve only been able to accept complaints on credit cards right now, we’ll begin taking complaints and inquiries related to home mortgages on or about Dec. 1,” a blog post containing a report from the CFPB’s first three months of collecting credit card data stated. The complaint portal is now open.

Read the rest of the article from Reverse Mortgage Daily

Bank of America settles mortgage suit for $315 million

Bank of America agreed to pay $315 million to settle claims by investors that they were misled about mortgage-backed investments sold by its Merrill Lynch unit.

The class action lawsuit was led by the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi pension fund. The fund claimed that the investments were backed by poor quality mortgages written by subprime lenders Countrywide Financial Corp., First Franklin Financial, and IndyMac Bancorp, a bank that failed in 2008.

Read the rest of the article at the Los Angeles Times

Study examines link between vacancies, foreclosures

The Government Accountability Office just released a study of nine cities in the US where there are a large percentage of vacant properties. According to the study, the city of Cape Coral's vacant properties are likely due to unemployment and purchases by investors.

The study was designed to look at the trends in vacant properties and how they relate to the increase in foreclosures. The study found in some cities, vacant foreclosed properties reduced the prices of nearby homes by $8,600 to $17,000.

Read the rest of the article at NBC 2

California, Nevada team up to investigate mortgage abuses

California and Nevada, which suffer the highest foreclosure rates in the country, will team up to investigate mortgage abuses by the nation's largest banks.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto in Los Angeles today to announce the alliance, saying it will speed along dual investigations in the states, both among the nation's hardest hit by the mortgage fraud crisis.

The deal comes as the two states pulled out of nationwide settlement talks with the banks and have aggressively pursued independent investigations into the so-called "robo-signing" practices in which banks and mortgages servicers were accused of rubber stamping foreclosures without actually reviewing homeowners documents.

Harris has subpoenaed some of the nation's largest financial institutions such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America Corp. and Lender Processing Services Inc.

Last December, Masto sued Bank of America for violating a three-year-old loan modification agreement with the state over predatory lending policies by its Countrywide unit.

Read the rest of the article at the Sacramento Bee

Blame Jimmy Carter for American Airlines' Bankruptcy

Airline bankruptcies are a bit unusual in that they’re aimed more at labor unions than at creditors.

Read the rest of the article at Slate

American joins long list of airline bankruptcies

American Airlines on Tuesday joined a long list of airlines that have filed for bankruptcy protection. American was the only U.S. legacy airline that hadn't yet filed. Several airlines have filed multiple times; Delta and Northwest filed on the same day six years ago. There have been 189 total since 1990. Here's a look at some of the airlines which filed for bankruptcy protection or went out of business over the past two decades:

See the list of airlines at the Sacramento Bee

Will Bankruptcy Take Ex off the Mortgage?

Dear Bankruptcy Adviser,
I am divorced, and my ex-husband is on the deed to the house. I am unable to refinance my home, which was given to me through the divorce. Can I file bankruptcy, and would the bankruptcy judge order the lender to get his name off the mortgage?
-- Sheila

Read the answer at Fox Business

American Airlines' bankruptcy -- what could go wrong?

American's bankruptcy will have almost no immediate effect on consumers: That was my initial assessment before the actual announcement and it parallels what just about every other travel reporter and financial analyst has said since the announcement. But that doesn't mean there will be no effects, ever. Because of the timing, I couldn't get into print or online to cover the bankruptcy when it was first announced, but I can at least take a new look after a week's consideration.

First, to reiterate the "no change" aspect. If you have an American ticket, almost all of you will get where you're going. You shouldn't hesitate to buy a ticket for a future American flight, either -- that, too, will be likely to operate as advertised. And your frequent flyer stuff will also be OK -- your accrued miles, any award trips you've already booked, and your elite status. American will remain in the OneWorld alliance and it will continue its extensive British Airways partnership.

Read the rest of the article at the Orlando Sentinel

Facing bankruptcy, US Postal Service plans unprecedented cuts to first-class mail next spring

Already mocked by some as “snail mail,” first-class U.S. mail will slow even more by next spring under plans by the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service to eliminate more than 250 processing centers. Nearly 30,000 workers would be laid off, too, as the post office struggles to respond to a shift to online communication and bill payments.

The cuts are part of $3 billion in reductions aimed at helping the agency avert bankruptcy next year. They would virtually eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day, a change in first-class delivery standards that have been in place since 1971.

Read the rest of the article at the Washington Post

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Arizona: Help for veterans to keep their homes

I am a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona ($995/Chapter 7) and was grateful to find out there are organizations that help veterans stay in their homes when they get behind in their payments. The nonprofit organization USA Cares assists post-911 veterans facing foreclosure.

The Veterans Administration also is making an effort to step up and work with veterans to save their homes, however some of the comments left after this article seem rather skeptical about the success they've had dealing with the VA.

Two Congressman introduced the Veterans' Homelessness Prevention and Early Warning Act of 2010 last year, Representative Tim Walz (D-MN) and Senator-elect John Boozman (R-AR). Veterans might try contacting their offices and asking for assistance or direction on where to go for help. Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ) is also assisting homeowners deal with their lenders.

In Orange County, the nonprofit Veterans First has helped numerous veterans. Daniel Foster, a wounded 23-year old army veteran who holds a purple heart and silver star, was unfairly facing foreclosure because there had been a mistake and he was not receiving benefits. Lenders had threatened to foreclose the day before Thanksgiving. Veterans First jumped in and with the help of an anonymous $12,000 donation, saved his home.

The Alexander Bankruptcy Law Firm provides low low cost Chapter 7 and 13 personal bankruptcies. $995 Chapter 7 or $2500 Chapter 13 bankruptcies plus court filing fee. Free consultation with a compassionate attorney who will handle your case personally. Call 24/7, available to meet with you around your schedule. 602-326-9116. Conveniently located in Central Phoenix along the Camelback corridor. AlexanderBankruptcyLawFirm.com

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Wounded War Veteran Threatened With Foreclosure Receives Help

Donors have come to the aid of Daniel Foster, the 23-year-old wounded Army veteran who holds a Purple Heart and Silver Star but was facing foreclosure because he couldn't get his veterans benefits.
One donor, who asked to remain anonymous, wrote a check for $12,000, the amount Foster and his disabled father Rex Foster owe for delinquent mortgage payments for the family home in Costa Mesa. Lenders had threatened to foreclose the day before Thanksgiving.
In addition, other checks have been received for $10, $25, $100 and two checks for $500 since a Voice of OC article on Foster's ordeal was published on Veterans Day, said Deane Tate, president and CEO of the nonprofit Veterans First.

Read the rest of the article at Voice of OC

Friday, December 2, 2011

Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Arizona: Banks can seize your account money if you owe money on a credit card

I am a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona ($995/Chapter 7) and warn clients about getting behind on credit cards if they also have a bank account with that financial institution. Usually creditors need to obtain a judgment against you in order to collect past due money, and the entire process of taking you to court and then collecting usually takes a few months and you have forewarning.

But there is an exception if you have a bank account with the same financial institution you have a credit card with. When you signed up for your checking or savings account, the bank probably included language in the agreement which said that you granted them approval to seize funds in your accounts should you owe them money.

If you do start getting behind on credit card payments, the best thing to do is to close out your checking or savings accounts - including business accounts - with the bank, or withdraw all of your money from the accounts.

If more than $600 is frozen or seized, you may be able to get it back if you file bankruptcy within 90 days. Or the trustee may take the money that was seized and divide it up amongst all of your creditors.

This is what I want you to take away from this: DO NOT WAIT TO ACT if you get behind in your credit card payments and have a checking account with that bank.

The Alexander Bankruptcy Law Firm provides low low cost Chapter 7 and 13 personal bankruptcies. $995 Chapter 7 or $2500 Chapter 13 bankruptcies plus court filing fee. Free consultation with a compassionate attorney who will handle your case personally. Call 24/7, available to meet with you around your schedule. 602-326-9116. Conveniently located in Central Phoenix along the Camelback corridor. AlexanderBankruptcyLawFirm.com

Three Alleged Mortgage Scammers Arrested In California

Just one day after government authorities announced they would be bringing the hammer down on loan-modification scammers, three people have been arrested in California for allegedly defrauding homeowners looking to revise the terms of their mortgages.

Magdalena Salas, Angelina Mireles and Julissa Garcia, all of Stockton, California, were arrested Thursday and are being held at the San Joaquin County Jail, according to a release from the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or SIGTARP.

Salas, Mireles and Garcia are accused of multiple counts of conspiracy, false advertising, and grand theft of personal property. The SIGTARP release claims that the three collected thousands of dollars in fees from California homeowners who were hoping to modify their mortgages, but that the homeowners never got the help they were looking for, and that some of them ended up losing their homes.

Unsavory mortgage practices have become widespread since the onset of the housing crash, which has left countless homeowners trying to stay one step ahead of foreclosure -- presenting a prime opportunity for scammers who claim they can lower homeowners' payments.

Read the rest of the article at the Huffington Post

Over one in five mortgages are underwater, negative equity declining slightly

As of the third quarter, 10.7 million mortgages are underwater, 22.1 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, according to CoreLogic. The number of homes with negative equity is down from 10.9 million in the second quarter.

Beyond those that are underwater, an additional 2.4 million borrowers a near-negative equity with under 5 percent equity in the third quarter. Near-negative equity homes and negative equity homes now account for 27.1 percent of all U.S. homes with a mortgage.

Nevada has the highest negative equity percentage with 58 percent of all of its mortgaged properties underwater, followed by Arizona (47 percent), Florida (44 percent), Michigan (35 percent) and for their first time featured in the top five is Georgia (30 percent).

Read the rest of the article at AG Beat

Fixer-Uppers Can Help Fix Foreclosure Mess, Stabilize Home Prices

While both the government and financial institutions like JPMorgan and Bank of America have managed to slow down the flow of foreclosures, it’s now time to move those homes through the process. It’s a crucial step in jump-starting housing construction, a critical engine of economic growth in the U.S.

So here are a few no-brainer solutions that could keep banks from retreating to the government, asking for bailouts we can no longer sustain.

Read the rest of the article at Forbes

Massachusetts AG Sues Big Banks over Robo-Signing

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley sued five banks today for “deceptive and unlawful conduct” in foreclosures. Federal officials have attempted to get states to reach one grand settlement with the banks, but attorneys general have increasingly balked at that idea.

Coakley’s targets include Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Ally Financial.

California, New York and Massachusetts have now split off from the larger pack of state prosecutors who are trying to come to a group deal. The states have been negotiating with the banks to secure a cash settlement for faulty foreclosure practices — expected to be about $25 billion — as well as possible reforms to foreclosure practices.

Read the rest of the article at Barron's

The Average Foreclosure Now Takes A Record 631 Days

The average foreclosure time in the U.S. has hit a record high of 631 days, according to Mortgage Monitor, a data-tracker analysis by LPS Applied Analytics.
That's nearly 21 months.
Time Moneyland's Alison Rogers attributes the startling statistic to several factors in the foreclosure process.
For example, lenders have started painstakingly reviewing foreclosures ever since the "robo-signing" scandal, in which borrowers accused financial institutions of moving foreclosures without following the proper protocol.

Read the rest of the article at Business Insider

Record number of homes in foreclosure

The foreclosure pipeline has never been more crammed, with lenders attempting to push 2.2 million homes through the process as of the end of October, according to a monthly report issued today by Lender Processing Services Inc.

Foreclosure starts jumped 5.7 percent from September to October, to 232,865, LPS said. But the report also showed significant improvement in the long-term outlook for foreclosures.

Read the rest of the article at Inman News

American Airlines bankruptcy could hit Tucson two ways

This week's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, could impact Tucson two ways - the more than one out of five passengers who fly the carrier out of Tucson International Airport and the 754 employees who work at its southwest reservations office.
For the immediate future, American is stressing that it is continuing operations as normal and no decisions have been made about employees, according to spokesman Tim Smith.

Read the rest of the article at Inside Tucson Business

GOP senator calls for investigation into MF Global bankruptcy

A top Senate Republican is demanding an independent investigation into how regulators monitored the financial firm MF Global, which recently underwent a massive bankruptcy.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, is also asking for a probe into the decision by Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Gary Gensler to recuse himself from the bankruptcy fallout, given his close ties to the firm's former head, ex-New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.

In a letter sent Wednesday to the CFTC's Inspector General, Shelby asked for a report detailing how the CFTC monitored MF Global leading up to its high-profile failure, one of the largest in the nation's history.

The financial firm headed by the former state head and Democratic senator has come under particular scrutiny due to the fact that over a billion dollars in customer funds have gone missing, driving speculation that the firewall between customer funds and firm cash was breached in an attempt to keep the company afloat.

Read the rest of the article at The Hill

Enron Bankruptcy 10 Years Later: Before Bailouts Were Big

Ten years ago, on Dec. 2, 2001, the Enron Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in what was then the largest corporate reorganization in U.S. history. Though just a decade ago, the Enron era in some ways seems to belong to another era—a time when failing companies met with bankruptcy rather than bailouts.

According to John Berlau, of the free-market-oriented Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), it was the Bear Stearns bailout in 2008 that “changed everything.” Berlau, who directs CEI’s Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs, told AdvisorOne the Enron failure “was of course devastating to employees, but it didn’t really hurt the larger economy.”

In today’s “culture of bailouts,” Enron might well have been seen as “too big to fail,” according to Berlau. Enron had a substantial $63 billion in assets at the time of its Chapter 11 filing. “With Enron," he said, "you could make the case it was as systemically important as Bear."

Read the rest of the article at Advisor One

Pension Turbulence the Reason for American Airlines Bankruptcy?

Did pension plan turbulence cause the crash of AMR Corp, the parent company of American Airlines?

This is the question posed by many in the industry, including Jon Waite, Director of Investment Management Advice of SEI Institutional Group, who notes that the bankruptcy exposes the challenge of providing a legacy benefit in an industry where the competition is not doing the same.

General Motors —perhaps the symbol of the deteriorating affect of pension debts on corporate profits—was not created as a pension plan, yet its pension grew to dwarf its core business, and like many plan sponsors, the scheme has become a legacy problem. Similarly, early signs are indicating that the four underfunded pension plans of AMR Corp. were a significant factor in the company’s decision to file for bankruptcy.

Read the rest of the article at Asset International

Newspaper publisher Lee to file for bankruptcy

Lee Enterprises Inc., the owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and one of the largest newspaper publishers in the country, announced Friday that it will file for bankruptcy on or about Dec. 12 after efforts to work out an out-of-court refinancing deal with its lenders failed.

In a news release, Lee Enterprises, based in Davenport, Iowa, said that filing a "prepackaged" Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan would allow the company to restructure its debts and exit bankruptcy in sixty days or less.

The publisher said the bankruptcy will have no impact on its business. Vendors, advertisers, subscribers, employees and the company's operations will not be affected.

Read the rest of the article at the Los Angeles Times