ABI Blog Exchange

Mutual Banks Must Survive. Here's a Plan

Alternative capital instruments would allow mutually held banks to become more vital providers of financial services.

Untangle Commercial Banking from Wall Street

Why on earth we would continue to extend programs intended to protect banks and hence their depositors to any entity that substantially engages in issuing and dealing in securities?

Good Opinion on Requests for Admissions

Call me crazy, but I believe that trial should be about each side presenting their case within the limits of the Rules of Evidence. I tend to be very skeptical about what I call trial by exclusion, the use of procedural rules to prevent the other guy

Brain-Injured Marines and For-Profit Colleges

Military personnel have long been targets of predatory creditors, going back to the moneylenders who followed the Roman legions. More recently, payday lenders clustered storefronts around military bases. The latest development is that subprime

Post-Bankruptcy Survival: What Credit Counseling Courses Won’t Teach You, But Should

If you’re considering bankruptcy, then you probably already know that debtors are required to take a credit counseling course within 180 days of filing bankruptcy and before they can receive their discharge. The credit counseling course will cover

Saving Money in a Time of Higher Prices, Higher Poverty Rate

A report released by the Census Bureau shows that income dropped for U.S. families and more families were living at or below the poverty line in 2010 than in previous years. In fact, 2010 marked the third consecutive year that the poverty rate

For Your Eyes Only: AWAL Bank Succeeds in Limiting Its Bankruptcy Code Disclosure Obligations

If James Bond (or Jason Bourne, if you’re being patriotic) were a bankruptcy and restructuring lawyer, he’d love this ruling. It’s just a shame it wasn’t a proceeding under chapter 007. In a recent decision out of the United States Bankruptcy Court

More Chapter 13 Mortgage Mediation Insights

My last post discussed a bankruptcy seminar which promoted advantages of court ordered mediation in the context of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Here are a some additional interesting points I heard from various seminar speakers (in no particular order)

Could Financial Data Mining Open More Credit Doors For Bankruptcy Debtors?

With additional regulations in place that require loan issuers to verify a debtor’s ability to pay, the three major credit bureaus are expanding their reach into Americans’ financial lives. More lenders are now probing consumers’ personal financial

Spotlight on Shareholder Proposals: Internal Pay Ratio Disclosure

Section 953(b) of Dodd-Frank requires companies to disclose the internal pay ratio between the total annual compensation of their CEO and the median total annual compensation of their employees. Effectiveness of the requirement has been delayed until

Spotlight on Shareholder Proposals: Internal Pay Ratio Disclosure

Section 953(b) of Dodd-Frank requires companies to disclose the internal pay ratio between the total annual compensation of their CEO and the median total annual compensation of their employees. Effectiveness of the requirement has been delayed until

News from Venice - INSOL Europe

Chris Laughton, President of INSOL Europe, today launched the European Insolvency Regulation Case Register at www.insolvencycases.eu.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Payment Plans

When it comes to payment plans for Chapter 7 cases, all fees and costs must be paid before the case is filed. At first glance, this may disappoint you, but most people it’s not a problem. The payment plan period usually overlaps with the pre-filing

The Daily Docket: Bondholders Sue Dynegy Over Restructuring Deal

Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital Group and other investors in the debt of distressed power producer Dynegy Inc. have asked a New York court to undo a restructuring engineered by shareholder Carl Icahn, calling the shake-up a fraud “unprecedented in the

Principal Paydown Plan- NACBA Petition to avoid foreclosures.

The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys created an online petition for the White House to reduce foreclosures. The plan is called Principal Paydown Plan (PPP). Someone in a chapter 13 bankruptcy case would apply all of their monthly

Foreclosure Myths: There Should Be No Mystery About Foreclosing CMBS Or Agency Loans (Here are a few tips)

Tommy Bastian has a great presentation on the "myths and reality" of foreclosing in Texas. He addresses several very important and unique attributes surrounding the foreclosure of securitized real estate loans. It is a very popular topic of readers

Highwood Bankruptcy Lawyer On Getting Bill Collectors To Stop Calling

Link I am often asked by clients and prospective clients, “can I stop bill collectors from calling.” The minute you retain David M. Siegel and Associates, you can inform your creditors that you have retained counsel for the purpose of bankruptcy

Spotlight on Shareholder Proposals: Internal Pay Ratio Disclosure

Section 953(b) of Dodd-Frank requires companies to disclose the internal pay ratio between the total annual compensation of their CEO and the median total annual compensation of their employees. Effectiveness of the requirement has been delayed until

Spotlight on Shareholder Proposals: Internal Pay Ratio Disclosure

Section 953(b) of Dodd-Frank requires companies to disclose the internal pay ratio between the total annual compensation of their CEO and the median total annual compensation of their employees. Effectiveness of the requirement has been delayed until

NewPage Corp. Creditors' Committee Appointed, First Monthly Operating Report Filed