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December
5, 2007
name='1'>November Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Increase 28 Percent
over Previous Year
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>consumer bankruptcy filings increased more than 28 percent
nationwide in November from the previous year, according to the American
Bankruptcy Institute . Yet according to data from the National
Bankruptcy Research Center, the overall November consumer filing total
of 71,799 represented a 5.5 percent decrease from the 75,975 filings in
October. Chapter 13 filings constituted 39.53 percent of all consumer
cases in November, a slight increase over October.
href='http://www.abiworld.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Monthly_Bankruptcy_Statistics&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=3716&ContentID=46994&DirectListComboInd=D'>Click
here to view the November consumer filing charts.
name='2'>Senate Judiciary Hearing to Examine Mortgage Modification
Bankruptcy Legislation
The Senate Judiciary
Committee will hold a hearing today titled 'The Looming Foreclosure
Crisis: How To Help Families Save Their Homes.' The committee will be
discussing proposed legislation to allow bankruptcy judges to modify
home mortgages for chapter 13 debtors. Witnesses scheduled to testify
include ABI Resident Scholar Prof.
w:st='on'>Mark
Scarberry
Univeristy, Moody's Chief Economist Mark Zandi, Prof. Joseph Mason of
Drexel University, Bankruptcy Judges Jacqueline P. Cox (N.D. Ill.) and
Thomas Bennett (N.D. Ala.) and NACBA President Henry J. Sommer.
href='http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=3046'>Click
here to watch the hearing at 2:30 p.m. ET.
href='http://www.abiworld.org/pdfs/scarberrytestimony12-5-07.pdf'>Click
here to read Prof. Scarberry's prepared testimony.
Mortgage
Lending
name='3'>Senate Tax-Writers Discuss Addressing Subprime
Crisis
Senate tax-writers began
discussions yesterday on legislation designed to help borrowers caught
in the subprime mortgage crisis,
size='3'>CongressDaily reported today. Action
before year's end might be contingent on a product that can get
unanimous consent in the Senate, a very unsure proposition. In the
meeting with the Senate Finance panel, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
laid out five policy areas where he believes Congress help addressing
the subprime fallout. One is to ensure that homeowners who are forgiven
mortgage debt in order to prevent foreclosure are not on the hook for
federal taxes on that debt. Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.)
said that he would support the debt-forgiveness provision if it is
limited to 'a finite period' of time, perhaps three years. Paulson also
mentioned boosting funding for debt counseling, Federal Housing
Authority modernization legislation, and increasing portfolio limits for
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as other actions Congress might take to
lessen the impact of subprime mortgage defaults, sources said. However,
he differed with Sen. Charles Schumer D-N.Y.) on the terms under which
those portfolio limits should be increased, according to a Senate
source.
name='4'>Commentary: Paulson Should Be Ready to Play Hardball with
Mortgage Investors
As Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson has met with lenders, investors and consumer groups,
developing a plan for streamlined loan modifications, he should be ready
to play hard ball with mortgage investors if they balk at the plans to
aid the ailing housing crisis, according to a
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>New York Times
size='3'>editorial today. Mortgage investors, who hold securities based
on subprime loans, would prefer to analyze each at-risk loan one by one
in order to maximize the return on their investment. Done properly, a
broad brush loan modification could freeze the introductory rates on an
estimated 500,000 loans. Investors who had been expecting returns based
on higher rates would lose money. That is a tough break, but if most of
the cost of foreclosure avoidance doesn’t come from investors, it
will come from taxpayers.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/opinion/05wed3.html?pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
name='5'>New Century Moves to Seal Examiner's Interim
Report
New Century Financial
Corp. urged a bankruptcy judge to seal a report by an examiner appointed
by the court to investigate the events surrounding the subprime mortgage
giant's downfall,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
In its motion, filed Monday, New Century told Judge
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Kevin Carey
size='3'>that the release of the privileged information, which included
analysis of legal strategies in sensitive repurchase negotiations, could
jeopardize its estates. A supplement to a court order last month, in
which Judge Carey granted examiner Michael Missal more time to conduct
his investigation, contained a provision stating that the report should
be filed initially under seal, New Century said.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>It also stipulated that the inclusion of
confidential information would not constitute a waiver by the debtor of
any applicable privilege, and that the debtors would have 10 days in
which to file a motion calling for the sealing of sensitive
portions.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=41514'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='6'>Travelers Fights Mortgage Lenders' Deal with
States
The Travelers Companies
Inc. has stepped up its opposition to deals Mortgage Lenders Network USA
Inc. struck with four state banking departments that would allow the
bankrupt mortgage provider to avoid possible million-dollar penalties
for lending violations,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
In the stipulation Mortgage Lenders submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Delaware
last month, the lender said that it would pay $845,000 to
the Connecticut Department of Banking and $10,000 to the New Hampshire
Banking Department. The debtor also agreed to surrender its mortgage
lender licenses to the Michigan Office of Financial Insurance Services
and cease its mortgage broker operations at the Ohio Department of
Commerce, Division of Financial Institutions' request. Travelers
contends that it was not included in the negotiations with the bonds
with the four states.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=41508'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='7'>Commentary: Congress Should Enact GSE
Reforms
As it prepares to conduct
what may be the most sweeping overhaul of the nation's mortgage-finance
system, Congress needs to temporarily raise the limits it now imposes on
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA mortgages by 50 percent, to $625,000,
according to a commentary by Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo in
today’s Wall
Street Journal. This reform ought to only be
for12 months and should be enacted as part of a broader package of
reforms to ensure that these linchpins of our mortgage system can
aggressively support the housing market in a time of need, and that the
appropriate controls and oversight are in place to protect taxpayers.
The lending industry can also play a pivotal role here by reaching out
to borrowers at risk of default. Industry leaders should work with
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson to
reduce the number of foreclosures and help, where appropriate,
homeowners stay in their homes.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119682399988414066.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='8'>Calpine Requests Permission to Sell $144 Million in Senior
Notes
Bankrupt energy company
Calpine Corp. asked for court permission to liquidate $144 million in
senior notes, claiming that the sale will be in the best interest of the
company and its creditors,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
In order to maximize the profits from the sale, Calpine said that it
will will enlist the services of Lehman Brothers, Lehman will act as the
initial buyer of the notes, and then immediately resell to the highest
bidders.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=41487'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='9'>Fund Crisis in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Florida
to States
Top
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Florida
moved yesterday to stabilize an investment pool for local governments
after a multibillion-dollar run prompted the state to temporarily
suspend withdrawals by cities and school districts, the New York
Times reported today. Local governments, which have been unable to
remove any money from the fund since Nov. 29, will be allowed to start
making limited withdrawals as early as tomorrow, officials said. The
turmoil has left some towns and school districts unable to meet payrolls
or pay bills and has raised concerns about similar funds across the
country.
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Montana
short-term investment pool, which invests money for state agencies and
municipalities, has about 23 percent of its $2.25 billion in total
assets invested in commercial paper issued by structured investment
vehicles. In Connecticut, the $5.3 billion Short-Term Investment Fund,
which oversees state and municipal money, has $100 million invested in a
defaulted SIV and $300 million more in SIV’s that have been marked
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/business/05invest.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
name='10'>Costly Program for Rural Businesses Yields Dubious
Results
Under a program to create
jobs in rural
size='3'>America, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture guaranteed $1.6 million in loans to Aztec
Environmental Inc., an asbestos-removal company in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Panama City
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Fla., the
Washington Post
reported today. Three years later, in February, Aztec
went out of business after a federal investigation into allegations of
environmental abuses and the hiring of illegal immigrants. Now, the USDA
could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on the loan. Actual losses
are almost surely higher, according to a
size='3'>Post analysis of thousands of USDA
loans and grants. USDA officials refuse to disclose losses on loans to
individual companies, even after they go out of business, arguing that
it 'could substantially harm' the companies'
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>competitive positions.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR20071204'>Read
more.