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September 24,
2009
Student-Loan Bankruptcy Rules
Democratic lawmakers said at a hearing yesterday that
they will push proposals to make it easier for bankrupt borrowers to get
debt relief on some privately issued student loans, Bloomberg News
reported yesterday. Congress extended “favorable, unusual
treatment” to private loans not guaranteed by the federal
government as part of a 2005 bankruptcy law, said Rep. Steve Cohen
(D-Tenn.), chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and
Administrative Law. The loans lack consumer protections that come with
federal student credit, “leaving financially distressed borrowers
with little option but to seek bankruptcy relief,” Cohen said.
“Without the undue hardship standard, borrowers could enjoy the
benefits of their education and file bankruptcy without ever attempting
to repay, leaving lenders with no assets or other way to get
repaid,” according to testimony by attorney Douglas Cuthbertson.
Congress should reexamine the 2005 bankruptcy provision as it considers
changes to the larger financial system and credit markets, said Rep.
George Miller (D-Calif.), chair of the House Education Committee.
However, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said that undoing the 2005 rule
would contribute to a “government takeover” of the
student-loan market. “If we make student loans unconditionally
dischargeable, we will encourage abuse, increase the interest rates
students pay on their loans, and dry up the flow of capital into the
student lending market,” Franks said.
href='http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/hear_090923_1.html'>Click
here to read the written hearing testimony.
Study: State Foreclosure
Prevention Ineffective
A study by the National Consumer Law Center found that
state foreclosure-prevention programs have failed to save borrowers from
losing their homes and haven’t improved their chances of modifying
loans, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. To combat record-high
foreclosure rates, 14 states have initiated more than 25 different
mediation initiatives since the middle of last year, according to the
report. The study was financed by the Open Society Institute, a
nonprofit supported by George Soros, chairman of New York-based hedge
fund Soros Fund Management LLC. One in 10 mortgage borrowers in the U.S.
is behind on payments and one in every 25 homes is in foreclosure,
according to Michael Williams, CEO of Fannie Mae. More than 360,000
loans have been modified since President Barack Obama launched his
Making Home Affordable Program in March. The study faulted that program
and other federal proposals because they are voluntary and don’t
force mortgage servicers to modify loans.
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=akHL6TFXfRL8'>Read
more.
Geithner Presses for
Regulatory Overhaul
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner at a hearing
before the House Financial Services Committee yesterday pressed Congress
again to pass a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's financial
regulatory system, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Washington Post
size='3'>reported today. Lawmakers from both parties raised concerns
about elements of the administration's overhaul plans, including doubts
about a proposed consumer financial protection agency, fears that
taxpayers would continue to implicitly prop up 'too big to fail'
institutions, and questions about the power of the Federal Reserve and
how best to provide the government with
face='Cambria' size='3'>authority to take over and dismantle troubled
financial institutions. 'We do need smarter
regulation but not necessarily more regulation,' said Rep. Spencer
Bachus (R-Ala.). 'We need enforcement of existing regulation, not
another layer of regulation or more government bureaucracy.' Committee
Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) signaled this week that he is willing to
compromise on perhaps the most controversial tenet of the
administration's plan -- the new consumer regulator. He circulated a
memo to members of his committee on Tuesday, saying he is prepared to
make key changes to the original outline for the agency in an effort to
address criticism about its power and scope. Frank wrote that he plans
to exclude a range of non-financial businesses, such as auto dealers and
telecom companies, from oversight by the agency.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092302564_pf.html'>Read
more.
In related news, the House Financial Services
Committee will continue its hearings on the proposed financial
regulatory overhaul with a hearing today titled “Experts’
Perspectives on Systemic Risk and Resolution Issues.” The first
panel will include testimony from Paul Volcker, former chairman of the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Witnesses for the
second panel include Arthur Levitt, Jr., former chairman of the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission and current senior advisor to the
Carlyle Group, Jeffrey A. Miron of Harvard University, Mark Zandi, chief
economist of Moody’s Economy.com, and Prof. John H. Cochrane of
the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
href='http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/fchr_092409.shtml'>Click
here to read the prepared testimony.
Federal Reserve Slows
Mortgage Purchases, Sees Stronger Economy
The Federal Reserve will slow its purchases of
mortgage securities, seeking to avoid disrupting the housing market as
an economic recovery takes hold, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.
“The Committee will gradually slow the pace of these purchases in
order to promote a smooth transition in markets and anticipates that
they will be executed by the end of the first quarter of 2010,”
the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement yesterday. The
$1.45 trillion program was scheduled to cease by the end of this year.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his fellow policy makers indicated for
the first time since August 2008 that the economy is accelerating, even
as they recommitted to keep their benchmark interest-rate at .025
percent. The Fed has bought about $862 billion of its $1.25 trillion
agency mortgage-backed securities program, and $129.2 billion of a $200
billion program of U.S. agency bonds.
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0rBSJr4Y3LM'>Read
more.
Balsillie Strengthens Bid
for Phoenix Coyotes
Canadian billionaire and Research in Motion Ltd.
Co-CEO Jim Balsillie yesterday enhanced his $242.5 million bid for the
bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes ice hockey team, Reuters reported today.
Balsillie, who had offered Glendale, Ariz., $50 million to address
concerns and mitigate losses connected with the relocation of the team,
said that he would pay $25 million of that amount immediately after the
court approves the sale. Glendale would be allowed to keep the $25
million even if the National Hockey League (NHL) wins an appeal and
Balsillie loses his bid to buy the team. Balsillie would drop his bid if
another buyer managed within that time to match the NHL's $140 million
offer and paid the debtor-in-possession financing costs for the present
hockey season.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/24/AR2009092400811_pf.html'>Read
more.
In related news, the Phoenix Coyotes agreed to give
its unsecured creditors the right to bring claims against team owner
Jerry Moyes and other insiders on behalf of the estate,
face='Times New Roman'>
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
According to the order, the debtors assigned all interest in any
potential or actual claims against Moyes, who has decision-making
authority over the debtors, and other insiders in order to satisfy their
fiduciary duty to the committee to maximize value for the estate, and
avoid any appearance of doubt with respect to that duty. The order did
not mention any specific claims the committee might have against the
insiders. The case is
face='Times
New
Roman' size='3'>In re Dewey Ranch Hockey LLC, et al.
size='3'>, case number 2:09-cv-09488, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for
the District of Arizona.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/print_article/124205'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
Massachusetts Reviews DBRS
Grades on Life Settlements
Massachusetts is reviewing DBRS Ltd.’s grades on
investments tied to life insurance policies because they might be
inflated like the discredited mortgage bonds at the center of the
recession, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. DBRS has until Oct. 7 to
provide information on how it rates the so-called life settlement bonds,
how it’s paid for the ratings and how it monitors them, Secretary
of the Commonwealth William Galvin said yesterday. U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro also is reviewing life
settlements, where investors buy policies and pay the premiums until the
seller’s death. The investors then collect the proceeds. Schapiro
said yesterday that the SEC had formed a task force to scrutinize
instances when Wall Street firms package the policies into bonds and
sell them to investors.
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2IBQ9I3oVdY'>Read
more.
Chapter 11 Examiner to Take
Reins in Trump Case
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New
Jersey has agreed to appoint a chapter 11 examiner in the Trump
Entertainment Resorts Inc. bankruptcy case,
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360
size='3'>reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge
face='Times New Roman'>Judith H. Wizmur signed off on
a request of acting U.S. Trustee Roberta A.
DeAngelis recommending the appointment of
Michael St. Patrick Baxter of Covington & Burling LLP. The official
appointment comes on the heels of Judge Wizmur granting a request by
noteholders at the end of August to appoint an examiner to investigate
the Trump’s reorganization plan.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/articles/124043'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
GMAC Uses New Capital
Strength to Expand
GMAC Inc., the former General Motors Co. finance
company that was rescued by the government, is using its new access to
low-cost capital and the rising prominence of its Ally bank to compete
more directly with banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wachovia
Corp., the
size='3'>Wall Street Journal reported today. A
key part of the aid GMAC received from the Obama administration was
approval to turn itself into a bank-holding company, which now serves as
a growing source of funds for lending, particularly as it looks to chase
more business in the used-car market and lend on non-GM vehicles.Backed
by rising deposits at its bank, GMAC today plans to begin offering new
auto-related financial programs to car dealers called the Ally Dealer
Rewards program, GMAC President Bill Muir said.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125374831655035747.html#mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
Brink of Bankruptcy
Bonita Bay Group, once a premier developer of
expensive golf communities in Naples, Fla., said that it will be forced
to file for bankruptcy if it has to refund $245 million in golf-club
membership fees that some homeowners are demanding, the
face='Times New Roman'>Wall
Street Journal reported today. Through the
1990s and the earlier part of this decade, Bonita Bay was regarded as
one of the leading developers in the Naples area, which has the highest
per capita income of any locale in the country except
Stamford-Greenwich, Conn. Bonita Bay launched seven Naples-area
communities where houses sold for up to $12 million and came with access
to exclusive golf clubs with restaurants, tennis courts and pools.
Today, like many other Sunbelt developers, Bonita Bay is being squeezed
by debt and plunging sales. However, its biggest problem is a dispute
over the deposits homeowners put down for memberships in the golf clubs,
a marina and other clubs. Many members want to quit the clubs and get
their money back for reasons ranging from cheaper golf elsewhere to the
desire for ready cash. Their membership agreements say the deposits --
up to $185,000 per member -- are refundable on demand, a relatively
unusual stipulation the homeowners say was a big part of the appeal of
joining.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125374310564235469.html'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
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