Posted on 12/28/2005 12:43:50 AM PST by SDGOP
An unprecedented spike in filings before reform took effect in fall 2005 is chewing into lenders' bottom lines, and the subsequent lull is showing signs of being short-lived. Bankruptcy attorneys say their caseloads are starting to pick up, and credit counseling agencies -- which provide now-mandatory sessions for consumers who want to file -- say they're seeing significantly more people than they initially predicted.
All this is raising questions about whether lenders will profit as much from the new bill as they hoped.Credit card interest out of control? Find a lower rate.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The new law contains a “means test” that was supposed to steer higher-income filers toward repayment plans. Lenders expected a rush of consumers trying to beat the bankruptcy deadline, but nothing like the surge that actually occurred. More than 500,000 bankruptcy cases were filed in the two weeks before the law took effect, compared with a normal weekly volume of 30,000 to 35,000. So far this year more than 2 million cases have been filed, 49% more than the same period last year and eclipsing all previous records.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneycentral.msn.com ...
Some Ch. 13 questions: Does Chapter 13 eliminate any interest or legal fees incurred by the creditors before a payment plan is concocted? Also, how does a home with equity enter into a Ch 13 plan?
Yes, and the GOP flatly rejected ANY medical exemption. Even if the person can prove they lost everything because of the catastrophic situation. A profile in cowardice by the GOP, in servitude to MBNA and their campaign cash.
How would divorce be linked to bankruptcy?
Please explain the link between divorce and bankruptcy?
I see, the larger the country the shorter the life span.
In short the statistics are totally meaningless when it comes to healthecare.
Really? So when the life expectancy fell by several years in Russia after Yeltsin privatization reforms it was "totally meaningless".
I'm not an expert and had to ask myself. It was explained to me early in the thread. The way I understand it (in general terms) is that it stretches financing tight by reducing incomes and requiring two residences. I would also assume that it creates some chaos, which is never a good thing.
Pre-divorce, you have the family income going to support one household, post-divorce (really, after the initial split-up) you have the same income going to support two households. Two rental payments, two sets of utility bills, what's difficult to understand about that?
And how is any of that the fault of the credit card companies? Does someone from Capital One hold a gun to a broad's head and make her overspend against her husband's wishes?
An awful lot of the posters here who talk about "rolling with the punches" on medical bills probably have decent health insurance. That's getting tougher to obtain, I only got health insurance at the beginning of this month, I couldn't afford it since September, 2000. For many people, the bankruptcy laws ARE their health insurance.
Worth repeating, quote of the day.
Those are the most interesting posts. They harken back to a philosophy of the Victorian age that found its way into novels, laws and a general attitude. Some of this was Calvinistic (good people prosper and bad people suffer) and some of it was simply a way to demonize the poor, and some of it was based on the tenets of Herbert Spencer (survival of the fittest). Dickens lampoons it in A Christmas Carol (Scrooge) and other works.
It's a fascinating belief system.
Yes, indeed, while I don't want anything ever resembling HillaryCare, I think that President Bush and the Republican Party should have been working on a system that would reduce lawsuits, provide a basic level of universal coverage, encourage thrift, and provide stability in the delivery of healthcare services. I'd rather see them working on that, then figuring out how to stuff this country with Mexican "guest workers".
Good luck with that...
Med-mal payments have never driven healthcare costs. It's like the Big Lie about jews causing the masses to go without. Insurance companies won't allow the public to see their books in Illinois, while they make out like bandits on high premia. The public's also told defensive medicine is why the doc's order way too many tests. It's really because most MD's are doing and ordering what their bosses are telling them to order. Because most MD's are not self employed any longer, but merely willing dupes.
That's true in my friend Ian's case. For most of his life (since age 21) he has been an owner-operator long-haul trucker, making a very good income.
He had a nice house in Indiana and paid all his bills on time.
Then, he went into stage 4 congestive heart failure. It apparently was caused by chemotherapy he took 16 years ago when he had cancer.
Well, the Indiana board of motor vehicles took away his CDL, and he basically lost everything. He lost his truck, and even though he has paid off most of his beautiful three-story house, he stands to lose it.
He can't get disability. He was turned down even though his doctors at Margaret Mercy say he is in end-stage heart failure, and he ends up gasping for breath and sweating even after walking just a few yards.
He can't work anywhere where there are electric motors or computers, as he has a pacemaker/defibrillator, and as a result of all this, he is paying for everything with his credit cards, just food, medical bills and utilities, until his disabilty is finally approved.
He has to hire a lawyer at $20,000+ to get that disabilty, even though he's probably paid the federal government millions of dollars in taxes in the thirty years he's been a semi-truck driver.
I'm a conservative at heart, but when I hear cases like this, I do understand what the liberals talk about when they get all bleeding-heart about hard-luck cases like Ian's.
Ed
We're also entering into a two-tiered medical system. The hottest (and most profitable) medical practices are now "boutique" medicine. All cash payments, doctors on call 24-hours a day, seven days a week. House calls (sic!!!) included.
"Heck, I could probably get a card for my dog."
Years ago, my dog WAS solicited for a credit card. I had signed her up through Purina for some free stuff as a puppy, and because she had a human-sounding name, guess they missed it and sold her name and our address to a CC company. :)
I finally realized what had happened when all of these new dog toys and rawhide chews started showing up around the house. (Just kidding...but we really did get a soliciation in the mail in her name.)
That may be why the Fed has been infusing new currency into the money supply of late and that in March they plan to "hide" IE. not announce publically the M3 statistics anymore...something nasty is coming down the pike!
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