Pawn Loans May Be Modified in Chapter 13 if There Wasn’t a Default Before Filing
Eleventh Circuit limits its own precedent to say that pawn lenders aren’t entirely immune from bankruptcy.
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Commercial Chapter 11 Filings Decrease 50 Percent in August from Last Year, Total Filings Down 18 Percent
Commercial chapter 11 filings decreased 50 percent in August 2021 from last year, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. The 264 commercial chapter 11 filings in August 2021 fell by exactly half from the 528 filings registered in August 2020. The 32,257 total U.S. bankruptcy filings for August 2021 represented an 18 percent decrease from the August 2020 total of 39,361 filings. Likewise, the 30,533 consumer filings in August 2021 decreased 17 percent from last year’s consumer total of 36,873. Overall commercial filings in August 2021 totaled 1,724, down 31 percent from the 2,488 filings in August 2020. “Struggling families and businesses are seeing government stabilization programs expire, lender forbearance programs recede, and challenges to the supply chain wrought by the pandemic resurface,” said ABI Executive Director Amy Quackenboss. “Amid uncertain economic times, bankruptcy remains a dependable shield to help keep companies and consumers from being financially overwhelmed.”
Discharge Cuts Off Future Liability on a Guaranty, Some Courts Hold on a Split
The ‘conduct’ test in the Seventh Circuit, not the ‘accrual test,’ determines when a claim arose and whether it was discharged.
Commercial Chapter 11 Filings Decrease 50 Percent in August from Last Year, Total Filings Down 18 Percent
Alexandria, Va.— Commercial chapter 11 filings decreased 50 percent in August 2021 from last year, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. The 264 commercial chapter 11 filings in August 2021 fell by exactly half from the 528 filings registered in August 2020. The 32,257 total U.S. bankruptcy filings for August 2021 represented an 18 percent decrease from the August 2020 total of 39,361 filings. Likewise, the 30,533 consumer filings in August 2021 decreased 17 percent from last year’s consumer total of 36,873. Overall commercial filings in August 2021 totaled 1,724, down 31 percent from the 2,488 filings in August 2020.
“Struggling families and businesses are seeing government stabilization programs expire, lender forbearance programs recede, and challenges to the supply chain wrought by the pandemic resurface,” said ABI Executive Director Amy Quackenboss. “Amid uncertain economic times, bankruptcy remains a dependable shield to help keep companies and consumers from being financially overwhelmed.”
The 264 commercial chapter 11 filings recorded in August 2021 represented an 8 percent increase from the 245 commercial chapter 11 filings in July. August 2021 business filings increased 1 percent to 1,724 from July’s business total of 1,709. Total bankruptcy filings in August 2021 registered only a slight decrease (0.41%) from the 32,391 total filings in July. The 30,533 consumer filings in August also represented a slight decrease (0.49%) from July’s consumer total of 30,682.
The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate in August was 1.36 (total filings per 1,000 population), a slight decrease from the filing rate of 1.38 during the first seven months of 2021. Average total filings per day in August 2021 were 1,466, a decrease of 22 percent from the 1,874 total daily filings in August 2020. States with the highest per capita filing rates (total filings per 1,000 population) in August 2021 were:
1. Alabama (3.13)
2. Nevada (2.82)
3. Tennessee (2.47)
4. Indiana (2.30)
5. Kentucky (2.15)
ABI has partnered with Epiq in order to provide the most current bankruptcy filing data for analysts, researchers and members of the news media. Epiq is a leading provider of managed technology for the global legal profession. To view the full monthly statistical tables provided by Epiq, be sure to visit ABI’s Newsroom.
ABI’s COVID-19 Resources website is continually being updated for bankruptcy professionals and the public to access essential information and analysis regarding the financial distress being inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The site features exclusive ABI content on the crisis, weekly filing statistics, recommended member analysis, industry sector news, charts and more. Also, ABI’s SBRA Resources webpage is routinely updated with information, statistics, analysis and events related to the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019, which went into effect last year to make bankruptcy more accessible, efficient and cheaper for struggling small businesses.
For further information about the statistics or additional requests, please contact ABI Public Affairs Officer John Hartgen at 703-894-5935 or jhartgen@abiworld.org.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 10,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abi.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abi.org/calendar-of-events.
Epiq, a global leader in the legal services industry, takes on large-scale, increasingly complex tasks for corporate counsel, law firms, and business professionals with efficiency, clarity, and confidence. Clients rely on Epiq to streamline the administration of business operations, class action and mass tort, court reporting, eDiscovery, regulatory, compliance, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. Epiq subject-matter experts and technologies create efficiency through expertise and deliver confidence to high-performing clients around the world. Learn more at www.epiqglobal.com.
Another Circuit Holds that Dismissal Is Mandatory Under Section 1307(b)
The Ninth Circuit leaves the door open for a bankruptcy court to sanction a misbehaving chapter 13 debtor before granting the debtor’s motion for voluntary dismissal.
H.R. 4907, the "Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act of 2019"
To amend title 11 of the United States Code to modify the dischargeability of debts for certain educational payments and loans.
Evictions to Hit 750,000 Households, Goldman Says
About 750,000 renter households will likely lose their homes this year after the Supreme Court blocked the federal eviction moratorium, according to Goldman Sachs economists, Politico reported. Analysts at the investment bank estimate that tenants owe between $12 billion and $17 billion to landlords as COVID-19 cases surge, with about 2.5 million to 3.5 million households behind on rent. The findings that Goldman released late Sunday mark one of the first comprehensive estimates of what could happen in the absence of the eviction moratorium, which was stopped as state and local governments continued to experience bottlenecks in the delivery of $46.5 billion in federal rental assistance. Given the slow pace of rental aid disbursement, Goldman's analysts expect that between 1 million and 2 million households will remain without support and at risk of eviction when the remaining state and local eviction bans expire at the end of September. The economists based their findings on rent delinquency data from real estate companies, the National Multifamily Housing Council and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Biden Has Canceled over $9 Billion in Student Loan Debt
The Department of Education has canceled more than $9 billion in student loan debt since President Biden has come into office with moves that will affect more than 563,000 borrowers, The Hill reported. The agency confirmed the new top-line figure upon its recent announcement detailing its cancellation of $1.1 billion in debt for 115,000 borrowers that attended ITT Technical Institute, which is now defunct. The department said borrowers receiving relief attended ITT during a period in which the institution misrepresented its finances and misled students about “unaffordable private loans that were allegedly portrayed as grant aid.” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said ITT, which closed permanently in 2016, "hid its true financial state from borrowers" for years "while luring many of them into taking out private loans with misleading and unaffordable terms that may have caused borrowers to leave school." Cardona extended the window for relief to March 31, 2008, after a review by the agency into events that led to the closure of the institution, as well as filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the company’s bankruptcy court proceedings.
