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Credit Slips 

A discussion on credit and bankruptcy.
Post Frequency: 12.8/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 09:01:41 Recent Entries: 1126
By Bob Lawless, Adam Levitin, Angie Littwin, Katie Porter,
John Pottow, Debb Thorne, Elizabeth Warren
Go to Credit Slips, find other Bankruptcy blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Maybe I'm just paranoid...
Posted on September 22, 2010But reading that Larry Summers is resigning makes me itchy. While there's a perfectly plausible personal reason for his resignation, part of me worries that he sees something coming that I don't and that the shit is really going to...
Lessons from Todd Henderson
Posted on September 22, 2010University of Chicago Law Professor Todd Henderson stirred up a minor blogospheric shitstorm with his post "We Are the Super-Rich" at Truth on the Market. (No link since Todd has removed the piece from the site and retired from blogging.)...
Empirical Caution: A Lesson from Auto Title Loans
Posted on September 22, 2010A few weeks ago there was some nice discussion about Jim Hawkin's article on fringe banking. Natalie questioned whether Jim's assumptions about payday lending correspond with empirical reality. Similarly, it's worth pointing out that the data Jim relies on regarding...
Don?t Let Servicers Be Mortgage Relief Gatekeepers (Again)
Posted on September 21, 2010Thanks to Chris Mayer for taking the time to comment on my earlier posting and for providing more information about his mortgage relief and stimulus proposal (with Glenn Hubbard). First, let?s focus on his statement that, ?Servicers must run any...
Just Can't Get Enough
Posted on September 20, 2010For those of you desiring even more chapter 11 discussion, I've added another hat to my collection: my first of hopefully many posts is up on the New York Times' Dealbook blog. Don't worry, I'm not giving up this gig.
Welcome Back, Jean Braucher
Posted on September 20, 2010We are please to welcome back Jean Braucher, the Roger C. Henderson Professor of Law at the University of Arizona. Professor Braucher will be joining us a guest blogger, offering her always insightful observations about the bankruptcy and consumer debt...
Mortgage Relief for All; But Who?s Paying??
Posted on September 20, 2010Glenn Hubbard is the dean of the Columbia Business School as well as the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President George W. Bush. That resume is what makes so puzzling his op ed (with a Columbia...
Housing Agenda for the new Consumer Czar
Posted on September 17, 2010The White House announced early this morning via a blog post that Elizabeth Warren will be appointed Assistant to the President and adviser to Treasury Secretary Geithner to begin implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This intriguing move leaves...
The U.S. Trustee's Office Already Has Decided Ransom
Posted on September 15, 2010During this past week in Bankruptcy with Bob, otherwise known as my bankruptcy course, we covered the means test. As my students now know, the means test is the screen that the U.S. Congress put on chapter 7 back in...
Get a Signed Glossy Photo from Adam Levitin
Posted on September 15, 2010Reliable sources tell me that, on October 22, 2010, the American College of Bankruptcy is sponsoring a symposium, "Responses to the Financial Crisis," that will focus on the role of the bankruptcy system and how to handle "too big to...
Debt Distress: Symptoms and Treatment
Posted on September 10, 2010From the United Kingdom comes an interesting new study, based on a survey of more than 10,000 applicants for legal aid about their problems and the means they use to address them. The study explores the linkages between overindebtedness and...
The War on Bank Profits?
Posted on September 10, 2010The Wall Street Journal had a peculiar opinion piece today about bank regulation. I won't pick the low-hanging fruit of its bizarre statements about potential CFPB Director nominees, but I think it's noteworthy for the revealing language it uses. It....
Fortune on Chapter 11 Costs
Posted on September 09, 2010One of the best articles I've seen on this topic in the mainstream press. "Best" because the author does not become distracted by the hourly rates or the large numbers involved -- unlike the Times' recent effort in this regard.
One of Every Nine Bankruptcy Cases Is Filed Without a Lawyer
Posted on September 08, 2010A few weeks ago, I pulled a national random sample of chapter 7 and chapter 13 cases filed by individuals during July and August of 2010. I kept track of how many were filed by pro se debtors, that is...
In Connection With
Posted on September 07, 2010The litigation between Chase and Lehman (10-03266 (JMP)) is heating up, with Chase filing its motion to dismiss all of Lehman's claims. While Lehman's claims are many, the ones that are of special interest to me are those fraudulent transfer...
Foreclosure Crisis Update
Posted on September 03, 2010New numbers are out for the second quarter from the Mortgage Bankers Association?s National Delinquency Survey and HOPE NOW. After three years, the ramp-up phase of the foreclosure crisis seems to be ending, as the rate of mortgages in default...
Consumer Law
Posted on September 01, 2010Credit Slips is a self-proclaimed blog about "credit, finance, and bankruptcy." Much of our discussion here focuses on consumer credit, which also makes up a large amount of what gets taught in law school courses on "consumer law." Jeff Sovern...
The Fed's Apparently Nonexistent Interest
Posted on September 01, 2010Last week, Katie proposed that we might have a blog category for "Beyond the Comfort Zone." I'll add another new category: "Things Bob Does Not Understand." It's sure to have lots of entries. Here is what I don't understand today....
Explaining the Housing Bubble
Posted on August 31, 2010Some self-promotion: I've posted a new paper to SSRN, coauthored with Susan Wachter (Wharton). It's entitled "Explaining the Housing Bubble." Here's the abstract: There is little consensus as to the cause of the housing bubble that precipitated the financial crisis...
Fringe Lending and Consumer Welfare
Posted on August 31, 2010Like Katie Porter, I found Professor Jim Hawkins' paper on fringe lending valuable for challenging some of the premises underlying calls for stricter regulation of fringe lending products like payday loans. In my view, there are empirically testable criteria for...
Chase Amassing Lehman Claims
Posted on August 31, 2010On Monday, JP Morgan Chase reported that it had purchased more than $60 million in claims from Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG. In July Chase bought about $200 million in claims. And while Chase has sold some claims too -- back...
Welcome to New York; the Bankruptcy Court is Below the Museum
Posted on August 30, 2010While most of the recent focus in the reorganization area has been on a handful of ?mega? cases that played key and controversial roles in the financial crisis, the bankruptcy court in Manhattan has quietly become the international center for...
State-sanctioned Federal Bankruptcy
Posted on August 27, 2010If Credit Slips had a category for "Beyond the Comfort Zone," I'd put this blog post here. But I'm curious about the pending California legislation, Assembly Bill 155, that would restrict municipal (Chapter 9) bankruptcy filings. The bill would require...
Hawkins' Fringe Banking Premise is that Payday and Title Loans are Short-term: If Only it Were True
Posted on August 26, 2010Although I disagree with the starting point of the paper Katie wrote about yesterday, Fringe Banking by Professor Jim Hawkins, and thus disagree with most of Professor Hawkins? conclusions, I have great respect for him and am grateful that his...
HAMP fizzles
Posted on August 25, 2010Treasury reported Friday that a hopelessly inadequate 37,000 mortgages were permanently modified as a result of the Administration?s HAMP program in July. The program, funded by TARP bailout money, offers mortgage servicers incentives and subsidies to modify mortgages, something they...
Fringe Banking and Financial Distress: Argument and Critique
Posted on August 25, 2010Today at The Conglomerate Blog, there is an online workshop of former Credit Slips guestblogger Jim Hawkins' paper, Regulating at the Fringe: Reexamining the Relationship between Fringe Banking and Financial Distress. Jim shared some of his thoughts on what he...
There Is a Jury Trial for that Proof of Claim
Posted on August 24, 2010Imagine the following. A debtor files bankruptcy and schedules a $10,000 bill owing to a credit card company. The credit card company files a proof of claim, saying the debt is $20,000. The debtor objects. OK, at that point, the...
Portrait of California Foreclosures
Posted on August 23, 2010An important and empirically robust new study belies the stereotype of the California foreclosure crisis as resulting from house flippers and social climbers overreaching to buy 4,000 square foot mansions. The typical California home in foreclosure is a very modest...
A Code Head-Scratcher
Posted on August 23, 2010From a retention application in Lehman, By this Application, the Debtors seek entry of an order, pursuant to section 327(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, authorizing the employment and retention of KBT&F as special counsel to the Debtors, to perform necessary...
The Dodd-Warren Rift: President Obama Can you Hear Me?
Posted on August 22, 2010With even Dr. Phil coming out in favor of Warren for CFPB head, Chris Dodd very much opposed and waffling about why, and a new rap video about Professor Warren going viral, according to an article in the New York...
Previous | Next
More owners facing foreclosure - Many paying a price for easy credit
Timothy Duggan, Shareholder in Stark & Stark's Real Estate Gro...
Ex-Spouses Can Ruin Each Other's Credit
Ex-Spouses Can Ruin Each Other's Credit By Kimberly Palmer, US New...
How Will My Divorce Affect My Credit?
A very good overview of some of the credit issues in divorce. ----...
Truth In Lending Act
Consumer Loans and Consumer Credit Protection Act
Bankruptcy Law
A complete prime (pre-2005)
Collection Agencies and Creditors
How to deal and stop the harassment
Federal Adoption Tax Credit
Financial Incentive for Adoptive Parents
My fiance's check is DD into a local credit union. Bank seems to have a pattern of "invisibly holding" charges from the debit card until just HOURS before his DD is processed (and this is after hours, of course). Over th
Have your fiance take the information you've collected and go into the bank...
What can i do about continued charges on closed account?
IMMEDIATELY call your bank and report the charges as fraudulent. They will be ab...
My father died and left my mother $200,000 (life insurance) My Mother died 2 years later leaving my sister and I with both about $75,000 each. (including house/vehicles/belongings which I never got). We were supposed to
File a police report. Two police reports, one for you and one for your sister. G...
Must I refinance my house aftering taking full ownership after a divorce via a quit claim?
When financing there are at least two documents...the mortgage and the note. The...
Should I return a phone call from a collection agency that doesn't name their client in the message?
In the county of the state where I live in the US, I am able to go to the websit...

My fiance's check is DD into a local credit union. Bank seems to have a pattern of "invisibly holding" charges from the debit card until just HOURS before his DD is processed (and this is after hours, of course). Over th
Have your fiance take the information you've collected and go into the bank...
What can i do about continued charges on closed account?
IMMEDIATELY call your bank and report the charges as fraudulent. They will be ab...
My father died and left my mother $200,000 (life insurance) My Mother died 2 years later leaving my sister and I with both about $75,000 each. (including house/vehicles/belongings which I never got). We were supposed to
File a police report. Two police reports, one for you and one for your sister. G...
Must I refinance my house aftering taking full ownership after a divorce via a quit claim?
When financing there are at least two documents...the mortgage and the note. The...
Should I return a phone call from a collection agency that doesn't name their client in the message?
In the county of the state where I live in the US, I am able to go to the websit...








