As reported on mlive by Mike Wilkinson of Bridge Magazine, serious questions remain as to whether Detroit will be able to survive its historic Chapter 9 Bankruptcy. Detroit has the distinction of the murder capital of the U.S. and is also the most populous U.S. city to ever seek bankruptcy protection. But, the real questions…
Archives for 2014
If a Creditor files a Claim against a Time Barred Debt, Is there a Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
Yes – According to at least one US Circuit Court in a recent opinion. As reported by Robin Miller of CBAR, in an important decision and a rare victory for consumers, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a debt collector’s filing a proof of claim for a time-barred debt violates the federal…
The Sale of the Art Works held by the Detroit Institute of Arts Could Bring Less Than Half Collection’s Value
As blogged by the American Bankruptcy Institute and reported by Reuters, art expert Michael Plummer was hired by the Detroit Institute of Arts to evaluate the collection for purposes of selling it to raise money for the City of Detroit Chapter 9 bankruptcy proceeding. Mr. Plummer reported that the Detroit Institute of Arts collection may…
How Do the New US Department of Education Rules Affect the Loan Rehabilitation Program for FFEL and Direct Student Loans?
The new rehabilitation rules affect both FFEL and Direct Loans, including: 1. Direct Loan rehabilitation now requires a written agreement (this was true of FFEL before, but not Direct Loans); and, 2. There is a specified method for calculating reasonable and affordable payments using the 15% income based repayment (IBR) formula. Once you request rehabilitation,…
How Do I Get Information About My Mortgage in Michigan?
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”) is a federal law that give you the right to get information about your mortgage loan through a Qualified Written Request addressed to the servicer. Under new rules effective January 2014, your servicer has to ackowledge your request within 5 days of recieving it and must respond within…
Bankruptcy Filings Fall 12 Percent for the First Half of 2014
As reported by the ABI, total bankruptcy filings totaled 479,362 nationwide during the first six months of 2014 (Jan. 1-June 30), a 12 percent decrease from the 544,561 total filings during the same period a year ago, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. The 460,870 total noncommercial filings for the first half of…
Who is Eligible to Participate in Public Service Loan Foregiveness?
Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a federal program that eliminates or forgives federal student loans for specific borrowers. You must be employed full time in an eligible public service or nonprofit job and must have made 120 eligible on-time payments within a 10 year period. Payments do not have to be consecutive – but only…