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Mortgage Rates Bounce Back on Signs of a Stronger Economic Recovery

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After a slight dip a week ago, mortgage rates have bounced back, according to the latest data released by Freddie Mac, The Washington Post reported yesterday. The 30-year fixed-rate average rebounded to near its two-year high, rising to 4.57 percent with an average 0.7 point. It was up from 4.51 percent a week ago. The 30-year fixed rate reached its highest level since July 2011, 4.58 percent, two weeks ago. It has remained above 4.5 percent for three weeks. The 15-year fixed-rate average also hovered near its two-year high, increasing to 3.59 percent with an average 0.7 point. It was 3.54 percent a week ago and 2.86 percent a year ago. The 15-year fixed rate hit its highest level since July 2011, 3.6 percent, two weeks ago. It has stayed above 3 percent since early June. Meanwhile, mortgage applications, which had been declining as interest rates rose, saw an uptick this week, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The Market Composite Index, a measure of total loan application volume, climbed 1.3 percent from the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 2 percent, while the Purchase Index was down 0.4 percent. After sinking to its lowest level since April 2011, the refinance share of mortgage activity showed gains, rising to 61 percent of total applications, up from 60 percent a week ago. Read more (free subscription required).

Bank of America Mortgage Holders Lose Bid to Sue as Group

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Bank of America Corp. cannot be sued by unified groups of homeowners in different states over its failure to modify mortgages, a federal judge in Boston ruled, Bloomberg Law reported today. Home-mortgage borrowers in 26 states claimed in lawsuits that Bank of America mismanaged loan requests under the Home Affordable Modification Program and sought class-action status to pursue their cases. Bank of America is one of many mortgage lenders participating in HAMP, which is designed to prevent mortgage foreclosures. The homeowners who sued claimed that they made all required trial payments under the plan to the bank and still didn’t receive permanent loan modifications or written denials of eligibility by a certain date. The case is In re Bank of America Home Affordable Modification Program Contract Litigation, 10-02193, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).

Commentary The Lessons of Lehman Are We Ready for the Next Meltdown

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ABI Bankruptcy Brief | September 3, 2013


 


  

September 3, 2013

 

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  NEWS AND ANALYSIS   

COMMENTARY: THE LESSONS OF LEHMAN: ARE WE READY FOR THE NEXT MELTDOWN?

It's been five years since Lehman Brothers failed, setting off a chain of unanticipated consequences that came perilously close to melting down the world's financial system. Had the Federal Reserve, other central banks and the U.S. government not intervened and thrown trillions of dollars at the crisis to keep financial markets afloat, we would be talking about Great Depression II. The true lesson to take from Lehman is that a simple move that was praised by free-market types at the time — letting Lehman fail — set off unanticipated consequences that brought the financial world to its knees within days. It was an object lesson about how things that seem simple on the surface can come back to bite you in unanticipated places in unanticipated ways, according to an editorial in Friday's Washington Post. When Lehman went under, the Reserve Fund, a big money-market fund, had to take losses because it owned Lehman paper, and some hedge funds that used Lehman's London office as their "prime broker" found their assets frozen as a result of its bankruptcy. That triggered a mad scramble in the U.S. as hedge funds pulled their accounts out of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, neither of which had full access to the array of Fed lending programs that commercial banks did. Both firms would have gone under — inflicting catastrophic pain on the financial system by setting off a worldwide cascade of failures — had the Fed not made Goldman and Morgan Stanley bank holding companies and given them access to unlimited cash to meet customer withdrawals. These two Lehman side effects, which many people have forgotten, typify the problems of dealing with financial crises. We've forced giant, too-big-to-be-allowed-to-fail financial institutions to beef up their capital relative to their assets, which is a good thing. However, we've gravely weakened the ability of the Federal Reserve by taking away key powers that it had used to stabilize things. This problem, combined with the unhappy fact that much of the rest of the federal government is dysfunctional, will cost us dearly when the next financial crisis hits, according to the editorial. And there always is a next one. Click here to read the full commentary.

ABI will host a media call on Sept. 12 at 2:00 p.m. ET on lessons learned at the Lehman anniversary, featuring guests Bankruptcy Judge James M. Peck (S.D.N.Y.; New York) and Harvey R. Miller (Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; New York). Contact (703) 739-0800 for more information.

ANALYSIS: BIG DREAMS, BUT LITTLE CONSENSUS, FOR A NEW DETROIT

There are 78,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit standing in various levels of decay. Services have fallen into dysfunction, and debts are piling ever higher. Yet for all the misery, Detroit's bankruptcy gives an American city a rare chance to reshape itself from top to bottom, according to an analysis in the New York Times yesterday. But reinventing a city so devastated is hardly a sure thing, and the questions about how to proceed loom as large as the answers: Should its areas of nearly vacant blocks be transformed into urban farms, parks and even ponds made from storm water? Could its old automobile manufacturing economy be shifted into one centering on technology, bioscience and international trade? Should Detroit, which lost a million residents over the last 60 years, pin its sharpest hopes on luring more young people here, counting on an influx of artists and entrepreneurs? Some have long been searching for solutions to the hollowing out of Detroit, a city that measures six times the landmass of Manhattan but is now home to only 700,000 people, down from 1.8 million at its peak. No single economic answer will be enough to rescue Detroit on its own, experts say. Instead, leaders have their hopes set on a range of fields, many of which have already found some success here. They have pushed for new medical and science-related businesses near the city's universities and new technology companies and start-ups in the city's downtown. And some are pondering prospects for expanding international trade, given plans for a new bridge to Canada. Click here to read the full analysis.

COMMENTARY: THE NATION'S FUTURE DEPENDS ON ITS CITIES

The residents of Minneapolis-St. Paul suffer, collectively, from a serious insecurity complex. They're always talking about how no one knows anything about their "twin" cities on the upper Mississippi River. Yet the Twin Cities' identity crisis has also proven to be one of their greatest economic strengths. One can't quite put one's finger on exactly what's there because, well, there's an awful lot there. Diversity, in a word, is the secret sauce that creates urban success, according to a commentary in last week's National Journal. Detroit, of course, never suffered from an identity crisis. Everyone always knew what the Motor City stood for: the Big Three automakers. But a lack of diversity was one of Detroit's biggest problems, contributing to its bankruptcy filing. What also sank Detroit, according to the commentary, was that its leaders failed to connect with the sprawl around it and turn the suburbs into part of a unified economic base. In the Detroit area, the city and its suburbs became virtual enemies. Ironically, given the nature of our high-tech, super-connected age, the future will look increasingly like the city-states that ruled the world for millennia. The future, in other words, is going medieval. The rise of the city-state has been a long-term trend, but it's gaining speed. Today, the 388 metro areas in the United States make up 84 percent of the nation's population and 91 percent of its gross domestic product. Urban centers are estimated to generate 80 percent of economic growth in the world, and the percentage may be growing because of the way well-built urban areas with good infrastructure can better apply resources and make more efficient use of tight public funds. Read the full commentary (subscription required).

ANALYSIS: CAN KODAK REINVENT ITSELF AFTER BANKRUPTCY?

Eastman Kodak Co. scientists are tinkering with a new technique, called Stream Inkjet Technology, to improve printing performance, and are working on further perfecting SquareSpot laser-writing technology and potentially toward breakthroughs in spatial atomic layer deposition. The hope is that these kinds of technologies can save a 121-year-old company emerging from 20 months of bankruptcy this week, according to an analysis in Sunday's Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle. The question of whether Kodak can succeed will take years to answer. But sink or swim, the company is now officially entering its next era with a much smaller workforce, dramatically cut costs and a narrower focus on a specific set of markets and offerings. Kodak has bet its immediate survival in part on commercial printing. But for tomorrow, it has its atomic layer research and other similar technology, bonding microscopically thin materials to surfaces. If all of Kodak's plans pan out, it will stop a slide in revenues that dates back to 2005 — the last year Kodak grew. Kodak projections have it bottoming out this year with sales of $2.5 billion, and then slowly growing to $3.2 billion in 2017. However, the company has a lengthy history of promising that it's finally turned the corner and that starting next year, things are going to be better. Kodak has argued that bankruptcy gave it the ability to essentially catch its breath and unload a variety of costs — including retiree health care coverage and some pensions — and that it is ready to soar. Now comes the challenge of taking that revamped and slimmed-down Kodak and making it into something the old Kodak has not been for years: consistently profitable. Click here to read the full analysis.

NEW LIFELINE FOR HOME BUYERS

The Obama administration wants to create a mortgage market that is more forgiving to borrowers who lost their homes due to the recession, an effort that could widen the pool of potential homeowners, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. A recent rule change lets certain borrowers who have gone through a foreclosure, bankruptcy or other adverse event — but who have repaired their credit — become eligible to receive a new mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration after waiting as little as one year. Previously, they had to wait at least three years before they could qualify for a new government-backed loan. To be eligible for the new FHA loans, borrowers must show that their foreclosure or bankruptcy was caused by a job loss or reduction in income that was beyond their control. Borrowers also must prove that their incomes have had a "full recovery" and complete housing counseling before getting a new mortgage. But it isn't clear whether banks will be eager to offer loans with the new terms at a time when they are facing a wave of lawsuits and investigations related to other government-backed loans. In addition, over the past four years, banks have had to buy back tens of billions of defaulted loans as Fannie, Freddie and the FHA faced mounting losses. Because of uncertainties about these "put-backs," lenders have imposed more conservative standards than what the federal entities require. The FHA says it has a separate effort under way to provide greater clarity about when banks could face put-backs. However, lenders say those changes haven't been specific enough to change their lending posture. Click here to read the full article.

EQUIFAX: AUTO, STUDENT LENDING EACH RISE MORE THAN 10%

Student and auto lending surged in the 12-month period ended in July, according to an Equifax report released Thursday, American Banker reported Friday. The total balance on federal and private student loans increased to $884.2 billion in July 2013, up 11.3% from a year earlier, according to the Atlanta credit bureau's National Consumer Credit Trends Report. However, Americans also took out fewer student loans in the first half of the year. The total number of loans originated between January and May fell 9.3% to 4.2 million. Auto loans rose 10.9% to $826.8 billion in July from a year earlier. Meanwhile, bank credit card balances rose for the first time in five years to $536.6 billion, a scant 0.6%. New credit opened between January and May rose 6% to $77.7 billion — the highest level since 2008. "In all other segments, consumers are reducing their debt burdens," Equifax Chief Economist Amy Crews Cutts said. Total balances on first mortgages, home-equity installments and home-equity revolving all fell, and severely delinquent balances for each loan type were at five-year lows. Click here to read the full article.

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS PUBLISHED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT

The Judicial Conference Advisory Committees on Bankruptcy and Civil Rules have proposed amendments to their respective rules and requested that the proposals be circulated to the bench, bar and public for comment. The following proposed amendments were approved for publication by the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure in June 2013:

Preliminary Draft of Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy and Civil Procedure: The public comment period is open for proposed amendments to Bankruptcy Rules 2002, 3002, 3007, 3012, 3015, 4003, 5005, 5009, 7001, 9006 and 9009; Official Forms 17A, 17B, 17C, 22A-1, 22A-1Supp, 22A-2, 22B, 22C-1, 22C-2, 101, 101A, 101B, 104, 105, 106Sum, 106A/B, 106C, 106D, 106E/F, 106G, 106H, 106Dec, 107, 112, 113, 119, 121, 318, 423 and 427; and Civil Rules 1, 4, 6, 16, 26, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 55, 84 and Appendix of Forms. The public comment period closes on Feb. 15, 2014. Your comments are welcome on all aspects of each proposal. The advisory committees will review all timely comments, which are made part of the official record and are available to the public. Click here to read the proposed amendments and submit comments.

NEW ABILIVE WEBINAR OCT. 3: THE INTERSECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND BANKRUPTCY: KODAK, NORTEL AND OTHER CASES

IP experts will shed light on the mysteries of understanding IP law and navigating the often puzzling sales processes, drawing from their experiences in Nortel, Kodak and other important cases, in an abiLIVE webinar on Oct. 3 from 1:00-2:15 p.m. ET. Speakers will include David Berten (Global IP Law Group, LLC; Chicago), Pauline K. Morgan (Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP; Wilmington, Del.), Cassandra M. Porter (Lowenstein Sandler LLP; Roseland, N.J.), Kelly Beaudin Stapleton (Alvarez & Marsal; New York) and Christopher Burton Wick (Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP; Cleveland). To register, click here.

RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE OF THE ABILIVE WEBINAR EXAMINING THE NEW U.S. TRUSTEE FEE GUIDELINES!

If you were not able to join ABI's recent well-attended abiLIVE webinar examining the U.S. Trustee Fee Guidelines for chapter 11 cases filed on or after Nov. 1, a recording of the program is now available for downloading! A panel of experts, including Clifford J. White, the director of the U.S. Trustee Program, discussed some of the ways the new guidelines could change day-to-day operations in firms, issues relating to the new market rate benchmarks, and how these changes might alter insolvency practice. The 90-minute recording is available for the special ABI member price of $75 and can be purchased here.

ABI GOLF TOUR UNDERWAY; LAST STOP FOR 2013 IS WINTER LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IN DECEMBER

The 7th and final stop for the 2013 ABI Golf Tour is on Dec. 5 at the Trump National Golf Club, held in conjunction with ABI’s Winter Leadership Conference. Final scoring to win the Great American Cup — sponsored by Great American Group — is based on your top three scores from the seven ABI events. See the Tour page for details and course descriptions. The ABI Golf Tour combines networking with fun competition, as golfers "play their own ball." Including your handicap means everyone has an equal chance to compete for the glory of being crowned ABI's top golfer of 2013! A 22-handicapper won the tour event at July’s Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop. There's no charge to register or participate in the Tour.

ABI IN-DEPTH

NEW CASE SUMMARY ON VOLO: IN RE TOWNE (3D CIR.)

Summarized by Terry Hall of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

In an opinion marked "Not Precedential," the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the bankruptcy and district courts' holdings that the law firm hired as special counsel to the chapter 11 debtors was not entitled to payment of its fees and expenses from the secured creditor's collateral sale proceeds under § 506(c) following a sale conducted by a chapter 7 trustee after conversion of the case because (a) the law firm's efforts were not necessary to preserve or dispose of the collateral and there was no direct benefit to secured creditor, (b) the secured creditor was not estopped from refusing payment from the proceeds, and (c) conduct by the secured creditor, either lawful or unlawful, is not relevant to the analysis under § 506(c).

There are more than 1,000 appellate opinions summarized on Volo, and summaries typically appear within 24 hours of the ruling. Click here regularly to view the latest case summaries on ABI’s Volo website.

NEW ON ABI’S BANKRUPTCY BLOG EXCHANGE: COMING RULES COULD CUT OFF BANKS FROM AFFILIATES

The Bankruptcy Blog Exchange is a free ABI service that tracks 35 bankruptcy-related blogs. A recent blog post discusses the Fed's preparation of a proposal to toughen Regulation W, which governs how banks do business with their subsidiaries and affiliates.

Be sure to check the site several times each day; any time a contributing blog posts a new story, a link to the story will appear on the top. If you have a blog that deals with bankruptcy, or know of a good blog that should be part of the Bankruptcy Exchange, please contact the ABI Web team.

ABI Quick Poll

Success fees for financial advisors should be prohibited.

Click here to vote on this week's Quick Poll. Click here to view the results of previous Quick Polls.

INSOL INTERNATIONAL



INSOL International is a worldwide federation of national associations for accountants and lawyers who specialize in turnaround and insolvency. There are currently 43 member associations worldwide with more than 9,000 professionals participating as members of INSOL International. As a member association of INSOL, ABI's members receive a discounted subscription rate. See ABI's enrollment page for details.

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  CALENDAR OF EVENTS
 

2013

September

- ABI Endowment Golf & Tennis Outing

    Sept. 10, 2013 | Maplewood, N.J.

- Lawrence P. King and Charles Seligson Workshop on Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization

    Sept. 18-19, 2013 | New York

- abiLIVE Webinar: Complex Requirements and Ethical Duties of Representing Consumer Debtorsbr>
     Sept. 24, 2013

- Bankruptcy 2013: Views from the Bench

    Sept. 27, 2013 | Washington, D.C.

October

- abiLIVE Webinar: The Intersection of Intellectual Property and Bankruptcy: Kodak, Nortel and Other Cases

     Oct. 3, 2013

- Midwestern Bankruptcy Institute Program and Midwestern Consumer Forum

    Oct. 4, 2013 | Kansas City, Mo.

- Professional Development Program

    Oct. 11, 2013 | New York, N.Y.

- Chicago Consumer Bankruptcy Conference

    Oct. 14, 2013 | Chicago, Ill.

- International Insolvency & Restructuring Symposium

    Oct. 25, 2013 | Berlin, Germany


  


November

- Complex Financial Restructuring Program

   Nov. 7, 2013 | Philadelphia, Pa.

- Corporate Restructuring Competition

   Nov. 7-8, 2013 | Philadelphia, Pa.

- Austin Advanced Consumer Bankruptcy Practice Institute

   Nov. 10-12, 2013 | Austin, Texas

- Detroit Consumer Bankruptcy Conference

   Nov. 11, 2013 | Detroit, Mich.

- Delaware Views from the Bench

   Nov. 25, 2013 | Wilmington, Del.

December

- Winter Leadership Conference

    Dec. 5-7, 2013 | Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

- ABI/St. John’s Bankruptcy Mediation Training

    Dec. 8-12, 2013 | New York


 
 

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Homebuyers Tapping Brakes as Rates Rise

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A surge in borrowing costs to a two-year high is starting to cool demand from homebuyers as higher rates are combining with surging prices to reduce affordability, Bloomberg News reported Friday. The biggest pinch is being felt in expensive markets such as Seattle and New York, where budgets were already stretched, leading to a more uneven national recovery. Contracts to buy previously owned homes fell 1.3 percent last month, the biggest decline this year, the National Association of Realtors reported last week. They slid 6.5 percent in the Northeast and 4.9 percent in the West, the data showed. The figures came on the heels of data that July new-home sales plunged 13.4 percent. Home-loan applications for purchases have declined 14 percent since the start of May, when interest rates surged by the most in two decades, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, and price appreciation has slowed, albeit from the fastest pace in seven years. Higher rates take the “edge off the froth,” said Jonathan Miller, president of New York-based appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. “You can’t sustain annual price growth in excess of 12 percent when income is flat, credit is tight and unemployment is elevated,” he said. “Those are boom price trends.”

S&P Says Municipal Mortgage-Seizure Plan Would Hurt Bond Grades

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Standard & Poor’s probably will demand greater protections for investors when mortgage bonds are backed by loans to homeowners in jurisdictions that use eminent domain to seize debt to help borrowers, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The use of eminent domain, such as is being contemplated by Richmond, Calif., would create an “additional risk of default,” as well as require different assumptions on the size of per-loan losses, S&P analysts James Taylor and Sharif Mahdavian said yesterday. The ratings firm would likely require more credit support, or protection such as some classes of deals taking losses before others, they wrote. Richmond is furthest along in considering using its eminent domain powers in such a way, which is being advocated by Mortgage Resolution Partners LLC and studied by about a dozen municipalities, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. S&P’s statement on its potential reaction if the effort progresses follows the ratings company’s response in 2003 to a predatory-lending law in Georgia with a refusal to grade bonds with home loans in the state.

MERS Wins Dismissal of Minnesota Counties Filings Suit

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Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. won dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Minnesota’s Ramsey and Hennepin counties over claims the use of MERS to avoid paying mortgage-assignment filing fees violates state law, Bloomberg News reported today. U.S. District Judge David S. Doty in Minneapolis threw out the counties’ complaint today, ruling that state law doesn’t require all transactions be recorded and only mandates what happens if they aren’t. The applicable law says in part, “every conveyance of real estate shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the county where such real estate is situated; and every such conveyance not so recorded shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration of the same real estate, or any part thereof, whose conveyance is first duly recorded.” “Nothing in the statute suggests — either through text or punctuation — that the phrase shall be recorded is to be divorced from the surrounding text,” the judge said. MERS, a unit of co-defendant Merscorp Holdings Inc., files mortgages as the lenders’ assignees or nominees to eliminate the need to record assignments of the notes securing those loans when they’re sold. Ramsey County, home of Minnesota’s capital city of St. Paul, and Hennepin county, site of the state’s most populous city, Minneapolis, filed the lawsuit in February on behalf of all the state’s counties. They alleged the failure to make those assignments public created a public nuisance by concealing the identity of those who holding a financial stake in a property and deprived the counties of filing fees for each transaction of about $46.

JPMorgan Ordered to Pay Blavatnik 42.5 Million over Mortgage Losses

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A New York state judge has ordered JPMorgan Chase & Co. to pay the billionaire Leonard Blavatnik $42.5 million plus interest, finding the bank liable for breach of contract after it was accused of mismanaging an investment account by betting on risky mortgage securities, Reuters reported yesterday. In a decision made public on yesterday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Melvin Schweitzer also said the largest U.S. bank was not liable on a negligence claim. Blavatnik had sought to recover more than $100 million that he said the bank lost on his original investment of roughly $1 billion.

Some Families without Homes after Mobile Home Company Files for Bankruptcy

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A mobile home company filed for bankruptcy and left several families without homes and without the money they paid for them, KFOR-TV (Oklahoma City) reported yesterday. Rodney Wilcox and his fiancée spent thousands of dollars on a mobile home that they do not have. According to court documents, Wheeler Rental and Mobile Home Sales filed for bankruptcy days before the couple closed on their home. “It makes me feel like I’ve been robbed,” said Wilcox. Sixteen complaints have been filed from all over the state. “Some of [these people] were in fairly dire straits to begin with,” said John Maile, director of the Used Motor Vehicle and Parts Commission, which regulates the mobile home industry. While the company hasn’t paid the 16 customers their $80,000, it was able to pay a bankruptcy attorney $20,000. The company has a $30,000 bond, but that’s not enough to pay all of the creditors. There is a bankruptcy hearing scheduled for Monday, after which the commission will determine whether it will revoke the company’s license.

CFPB Mortgage Servicing Still Riddled with Problems

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said that it has launched investigations into certain banks and other financial firms after finding many problems in the way they are servicing residential mortgages, The Washington Post reported yesterday. In the aftermath of the housing crash, the haphazard work of some mortgage servicers prevented thousands of struggling Americans from hanging onto their homes. Problems came to a head when regulators learned that banks were using forged and shoddy paperwork to rapidly foreclose on homeowners. Outrage over those practices led to multibillion-dollar settlements and a series of new rules, but a CFPB report released yesterday shows that many companies have not cleaned up their acts. Examiners found that some mortgage servicers engage in sloppy payment processing, which can result in extra fees for homeowners. They also uncovered instances in which servicers failed to tell homeowners that their loans were transferred to another company or gave consumers conflicting information on the process for reworking the terms of their mortgages.

July Foreclosure Activity Down 32 Percent over Last Year

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ABI Bankruptcy Brief | August 15, 2013


 


  

August 15, 2013

 

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  NEWS AND ANALYSIS   

JULY FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY DOWN 32 PERCENT OVER LAST YEAR

RealtyTrac reported that foreclosure filings last month -- including default notices, auctions and bank repossessions -- increased 2 percent from their 78-month low in June but were still down 32 percent from a year ago, USA Today reported today. Foreclosure starts -- the beginning of the process -- were up 6 percent from June but 38 percent lower year over year. Overall, foreclosure activity in July touched almost 131,000 homes. That's down 64 percent from the peak of foreclosure activity in early 2010, but still 54 percent above the average monthly foreclosure activity before the 2006 housing bust. Read more.

U.S. HOUSEHOLD DEBT DECLINED SLIGHTLY DURING SECOND QUARTER

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported yesterday that U.S. household debt fell 0.7 percent during the second quarter as a drop in mortgage balances outpaced a rise in borrowing to finance cars and education, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Consumer indebtedness declined $78 billion to $11.15 trillion, according to a quarterly report on household debt and credit released today by the Fed district bank. Mortgage balances decreased $91 billion to $7.84 trillion, and home-equity lines of credit fell by $12 billion to $540 billion. Americans have slashed their debt from a peak of $12.68 trillion in the third quarter of 2008, according to the New York Fed. Non-housing borrowing increased by 0.9 percent as car loan balances rose by $20 billion, and student loan and credit card borrowing each increased by $8 billion, the report said. Auto-loan debt has grown by $108 billion in the last nine quarters, according to the New York Fed. Read more.

ANALYSIS: STUDENT-LOAN LOAD KILLS STARTUP DREAMS

The rising mountain of student debt, recently closing in on $1.2 trillion, is forcing some entrepreneurs to abandon startup dreams and others to radically reshape their business plans, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The average student who borrows has piled up about $40,000 in debt by graduation, including parents' loans -- nearly double the levels of a decade ago, according to Edvisors.com, which runs college-planning and financial-aid websites. Recipients of graduate and professional degrees who borrow carry an average of more than $55,000 in debt at graduation, including undergraduate loans but not parent loans. That is up from $40,800 some 10 years ago. Some academic experts say that leftover loans are the biggest impediment to upstart entrepreneurship by those who recently received college or graduate degrees. At least one state has taken steps to alleviate the pressures. California this year enacted legislation that will reduce college costs for middle-class Californians who attend its public universities. Similarly, the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority (RISLA), a quasigovernmental nonprofit group, is looking at whether it is feasible to temporarily forbear or reduce payments for recent graduates who start a businesses or go to work for a new venture. The aim is to give recent graduates "the opportunity to try working for a startup or creating a startup instead of having to run off to Arizona and start working for Intel," says Charles P. Kelley, RISLA executive director. Read more. (Subscription required.)

STATES RECEPTIVE TO PROPOSALS AIMED AT BREAKING UP BIG BANKS



Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) effort to break up Wall Street banks through proposals to resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act may not have a lot of support in Congress, but it has a sympathetic audience in state capitals across the country, Politico reported yesterday. Lawmakers in at least 18 states have introduced resolutions this year calling on Congress to split up banking giants by putting back in place a wall between commercial banking, taking deposits and making loans, and investment banking, the world of traders and deal-makers. "We on the state level have been looking for an Elizabeth Warren -- someone to carry this banner for us," said Illinois state Rep. Mary Flowers, a Democrat who is the lead sponsor on a resolution introduced in May that urges Congress to reinstate Glass-Steagall, which was repealed in 1999. Read more.

abiLIVE WEBINAR NEXT TUESDAY: HOW WILL THE NEW U.S. TRUSTEE FEE GUIDELINES IMPACT YOU?



The new U.S. Trustee Fee Guidelines will affect all attorneys and firms who work on larger chapter 11 cases filed on or after Nov. 1. ABI's Ethics & Professional Compensation Committee will present a panel of experts, including Clifford J. White, the director of the U.S. Trustee Program, to discuss some of the ways the new guidelines could change day-to-day operations in firms, issues relating to the new market rate benchmarks, and how these changes might alter insolvency practice. Register today to hear government, attorney and academic perspectives speak on this important and timely topic.

ABI GOLF TOUR UNDERWAY; NEXT STOP IS THE SOUTHWEST BANKRUPTCY CONFERENCE NEXT WEEK



The 6th stop for the ABI Golf Tour is on Aug. 22 at the Incline Village Champion course, held in conjunction with ABI's Southwest Bankruptcy Conference. Final scoring to win the Great American Cup — sponsored by Great American Group — is based on your top three scores at seven scheduled ABI events, so play as many as you can before the tour wraps up at the Winter Leadership Conference in December. See the Tour page for details and course descriptions. The ABI Golf Tour combines networking with fun competition, as golfers "play their own ball." Including your handicap means everyone has an equal chance to compete for the glory of being crowned ABI's top golfer of 2013! A 22-handicapper won the tour event at July's Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop. There's no charge to register or participate in the Tour.

ABI IN-DEPTH

ASSOCIATES: ABI'S NUTS & BOLTS ONLINE PROGRAMS HELP YOU HONE YOUR SKILLS WHILE SAVING ON CLE!



Associates looking to sharpen their bankruptcy knowledge should take advantage of ABI's special offer of combining general, business or consumer Nuts & Bolts online programs. Each program features an outstanding faculty of judges and practitioners explaining the fundamentals of bankruptcy, offering procedures and strategies tailored for both consumer and business attorneys. Click here to get the CLE you need at a great low price!

NEW CASE SUMMARY ON VOLO: WILLIAM EDWIN LINDSEY V. PINNACLE NATIONAL BANK, ET AL. (IN RE LINDSEY; 6TH CIR.)



Summarized by Dean Langdon of DelCotto Law Group PLLC

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, holding that the district court's affirmation of the bankruptcy court order declining to confirm a proposed chapter 11 plan was not a final order under 11 U.S.C. § 158(d)(1), and no party had sought certification under § 158 (d)(2). The Court joined the Second, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits in holding that an order denying confirmation was not a final order under § 158(d)(1), and it rejected contrary decisions from the Third, Fourth and Fifth Circuits.

There are nearly 1,000 appellate opinions summarized on Volo, and summaries typically appear within 24 hours of the ruling. Click here regularly to view the latest case summaries on ABI’s Volo website.

NEW ON ABI’S BANKRUPTCY BLOG EXCHANGE: EFFECT OF THE DOJ'S LAWSUIT IN AMR'S BANKRUPTCY

The Bankruptcy Blog Exchange is a free ABI service that tracks 35 bankruptcy-related blogs. A recent blog post examines the effect that DOJ's anti-merger lawsuit will have on AMR's attempts to emerge from bankruptcy.

Be sure to check the site several times each day; any time a contributing blog posts a new story, a link to the story will appear on the top. If you have a blog that deals with bankruptcy, or know of a good blog that should be part of the Bankruptcy Exchange, please contact the ABI Web team.

ABI Quick Poll

A class of claims should not be considered impaired for purposes of § 1129(a)(10) if the impairment results from the plan proponents' exercise of discretion (i.e., artificial impairment) and not driven by economic need. (In re Village at Camp Bowie I LP).

Click here to vote on this week's Quick Poll. Click here to view the results of previous Quick Polls.

INSOL INTERNATIONAL



INSOL International is a worldwide federation of national associations for accountants and lawyers who specialize in turnaround and insolvency. There are currently 43 member associations worldwide with more than 9,000 professionals participating as members of INSOL International. As a member association of INSOL, ABI's members receive a discounted subscription rate. See ABI's enrollment page for details.

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  CALENDAR OF EVENTS
 

2013

August

- abiLIVE Webinar: How Will the New U.S. Trustee Fee Guidelines Impact You?

     August 20, 2013

- Southwest Bankruptcy Conference

    August 22-24, 2013 | Incline Village, Nev.

September

- ABI Endowment Golf & Tennis Outing

    Sept. 10, 2013 | Maplewood, N.J.

- ABI Endowment Baseball Game

    Sept. 12, 2013 | Baltimore, Md.

- Lawrence P. King and Charles Seligson Workshop on Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization

    Sept. 18-19, 2013 | New York

- abiLIVE Webinar: Complex Requirements and Ethical Duties of Representing Consumer Debtors

     Sept. 24, 2013

- Bankruptcy 2013: Views from the Bench

    Sept. 27, 2013 | Washington, D.C.

October

- Midwestern Bankruptcy Institute Program and Midwestern Consumer Forum

    Oct. 4, 2013 | Kansas City, Mo.

- Professional Development Program

    Oct. 11, 2013 | New York, N.Y.


  


- Chicago Consumer Bankruptcy Conference

    Oct. 14, 2013 | Chicago, Ill.

- International Insolvency & Restructuring Symposium

    Oct. 25, 2013 | Berlin, Germany

November

- Complex Financial Restructuring Program

   Nov. 7, 2013 | Philadelphia, Pa.

- Corporate Restructuring Competition

   Nov. 7-8, 2013 | Philadelphia, Pa.

- Austin Advanced Consumer Bankruptcy Practice Institute

   Nov. 10-12, 2013 | Austin, Texas

- Detroit Consumer Bankruptcy Conference

   Nov. 11, 2013 | Detroit, Mich.

December

- Winter Leadership Conference

    Dec. 5-7, 2013 | Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

- ABI/St. John’s Bankruptcy Mediation Training

    Dec. 8-12, 2013 | New York


 
 

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