JP Morgan, HSBC See Victory on Personal-Bankruptcy Law Changes

[papau]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&refer=uk&sid=aD6X6gKEwNRQ

JP Morgan, HSBC See Victory on Personal-Bankruptcy Law Changes
Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- <snip>The law the banks want would apply a means test to individuals seeking bankruptcy. Those, like the Rhodeses, whose family income is above the median for their state would be subject to the test, and might not be able to file for the kind of debt-canceling protection, known as Chapter 7. Instead, they'd have to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, in which they would be required to repay some debt while being allowed to retain assets. <snip>

About 11 percent of those who filed for Chapter 7 would have failed the means test, according to a 1998 study funded by San Francisco-based credit-card servicer Visa International Inc. <snip>

Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, a chief sponsor of the bill, said Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee promised to bring the legislation to a vote in 2005, after declining to bring it up for the last two years. <snip>

The biggest boon to creditors from the proposed legislation is that many consumers will be discouraged from filing under Chapter 7, said Edward Janger, a professor at Brooklyn Law School. The bill allows creditors to demand a hearing before a judge to determine whether a person filing for bankruptcy would fail the means test and should instead file under Chapter 13. The cost of hiring an attorney to prepare for and attend the hearing would deter many applicants, he said. <snip>

Even if Schumer succeeds in winning initial Senate passage of his abortion language, Republicans control both chambers -- they didn't in 2002 -- and can drop the language in a compromise version, Grassley said.

[papau]

1. facts do not seem to be like the GOP's stating-90% due to job lost/medical

The GOP goal has been to combine the present bankruptcy code, which allows debtors to choosebetween using only wealth to repay debt (Chapter 7) with the code that only requires using only future earnings to repay their debt (Chapter 13) so debtors would have to repay from both sources - in effect there would be no total discharge of credit card debt. The actual proposed bankruptcy bill would impose more than a hundred new constraints on all families — whether they are trying to repay or not — increasing costs, decreasing protection, and leaving creditors with more leverage than ever to squeeze a few dollars more out of all these familiescard debt. The bill's most important provision would bar many people from getting a fresh start from credit card bills and other forms of debt when they enter bankruptcy. Depending on their income, it would bar them from filing under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code, which forgives most debts. Under the legislation, they would have to file under Chapter 13, which would require repayment, even if that meant balancing overdue credit card bills with alimony and child- support payments. For last seven years banks, credit-card companies, retailers, and other financial institutions have pushed a bill to make it harder to discharge credit card debt. The bill passes either the House or the Senate, even both houses in 2002, then dies, and then the bill comes back to life in the following year.

GOP Proponents say people (read Dems) are gaming the system, engaging in a spending splurge, going bankrupt to clear their debts, and then repeating the process - with the result that Debtors capable of repaying their debts can often walk away from their financial obligations" - but as usual the facts do not seem to be anything like the GOP is stating - since more than 90 percent of bankruptcies arise from job loss, onerous medical bills not covered by health insurance, and divorce.

Present bankruptcy law already includes a provision allowing courts not to discharge debts if the debtor is abusing the system, and ABI research indicates that abusers are fewer than 3 percent of individuals filing for full bankruptcy, while the GOP and their creditor institutions lobbyist say they amount to 10 to 15 percent - any bets on the numbers the mainstream media reports!

It is not like credit-card companies are going under - in 2003 they reported $30.2 billion in profits, according to CardTrak, a consumer group tracking bank credit cards - up from $20.5 billion in 2000 and $6.4 billion in 1990.

In past years, the 400-page bankruptcy bill has failed to pass "because of an amendment by Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York". The provision would prevent abortion opponents who harass doctors or staff at clinics providing abortions from using the bankruptcy process to escape court-imposed fines or damages resulting from their violent actions. The reality is that Daschle allowed other Senators to stop the bill.

The GOP expects Senator Ried will not allow a fillibuster on a bill he supports like this gift to the credit card companies.

[newscott]

2. Time to bring back debtor's prisons

Does this mean people will stop seeking "legal" remedies?

They'll just stop paying their bills and change their phone number?

The banks have the right under chapter 7 to pursue your assets in court.

What more do they want?

I know which side the cirminals are on in this case.

Give me a break.

[Robert Oak]

7. Debtors Prison

ah...the good ole days of yore...

when beggars in the street were sent to workhouses, those lazy bums..
when children worked in the factories
when widows were thrown on the street in the cold because they couldn't pay the rent (wait, this one has been going on for a while now)...
....and when those
cheats welshed on their debts (ignoring our loan sharking practices)
we could take real action...off to the dungeons for you! At last the past is restored. It is 1896 all over again!

[indepat]

3. The linchpins of a corporatist society are nicely falling into place, one

by one.

[cosmicdot]

4. wonder why it's under "UK" news?

out of sight, out of mind :shrug: I see HSBC Holdings Plc is London-based ... but, still ...

"JP Morgan, HSBC See Victory..."
so much for of, by and for the people

could be a too late wake-up call for people who think the GOP (and Democrats who supported the bill in 2001) are on their side ... wonder if there'll be a 'run' on bankruptcies??? I expect, like foreclosures, these, too will be on the rise as the Bush economy continues forward.

"Wellstone Amdt. No. 14; To create an exemption for certain debtors that can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the court that the reason for the filing was a result of debts incurred through medical expenses." Rejected

no Paul there to help us little folks out

IIRC, Sen. Fitzgerald did the right thing and voted 'present' because he saw it as a conflict of interest with his family's banking business ... unlike the likes of Frist whose family is in the HMO business yet doesn't recuse himself from health-related-patient bill of rights type legislation.


S.420

Question: On Passage of the Bill (S.420, As Amended )
Vote Number: 36 Vote Date: March 15, 2001, 06:07 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2
Vote Result: Bill Passed
Measure Number: S. 420 (Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2001 )
Measure Title: An original bill to amend title 11, United States Code, and for other purposes.
Vote Counts: YEAs 83
NAYs 15
Present 1
Not Voting 1 (Boxer)

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00036

NAYs ---15 ... 2 GOP ... Brownback & Hutchinson
... only 13 Democrats ...
Brownback (R-KS)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Wellstone (D-MN)

Present - 1
Fitzgerald (R-IL)

Not Voting - 1
Boxer (D-CA)

YEAs ---83 36 Dems

Akaka (D-HI)

Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA)

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)

Bennett (R-UT)

Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)

Bond (R-MO)

Breaux (D-LA)

Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT)

Byrd (D-WV)

Campbell (R-CO)

Cantwell (D-WA)
Carnahan (D-MO)
Carper (D-DE)

Chafee (R-RI)

Cleland (D-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)

Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)

Conrad (D-ND)

Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)

Daschle (D-SD)

DeWine (R-OH)
Domenici (R-NM)

Dorgan (D-ND)
Edwards (D-NC)

Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)

Feinstein (D-CA)

Frist (R-TN)

Graham (D-FL)

Gramm (R-TX)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Helms (R-NC)

Hollings (D-SC)

Hutchinson (R-AR)
Inhofe (R-OK)

Inouye (D-HI)

Jeffords (R-VT)

Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)

Kyl (R-AZ)

Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)

Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)

Mikulski (D-MD)
Miller (D-GA)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-NE)

Nickles (R-OK)

Reid (D-NV)

Roberts (R-KS)
Santorum (R-PA)

Schumer (D-NY)

Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-NH)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)

Stabenow (D-MI)

Stevens (R-AK)
Thomas (R-WY)
Thompson (R-TN)
Thurmond (R-SC)

Torricelli (D-NJ)

Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

Wyden (D-OR)

[papau]

5. "UK" news - ???? - One must accept US Media as being pure!

Bloomberg just mis-filed the report!

[OneBlueSky]

6. motto of this administration . . .

"Let's Screw The Little Guy!" . . .