As reported on February 28, 2015 by Student Loan Borrower Assistance, the Department of Education announced late in the day on Friday that following a review of 22 private collection agencies, the Department will “wind down” contacts with five agencies that were “…providing inaccurate information to borrowers.” The five companies are: Coast Professional, Enterprise Recovery Systems, National Recoveries, Pioneer Credit Recovery (owned by Sallie Mae/Navient), and West Asset Management. BIG ED Under Secretary Ted Mitchell stated: “Every company that works for the Department must keep consumers’ best interests at the heart of their business practices by giving borrowers clear and accurate guidance. It is our responsibility-and our commitment-to uphold the highest standards of service for America’s student borrowers and consumers.” The CFPB supported the Department’s…

Applicable Law and Rules. Generally, the court will grant the debtor a discharge of all debts provided for by the chapter 13 plan or disallowed under section 502 of the Bankruptcy Code “as soon as practicable” after the debtor completes all payments under the plan, other than payments to holders of certain long-term claims. 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a). The discharge may be delayed or waived, however, in the following circumstances: • Domestic Support Obligations. A debtor who is required by a judicial or administrative order, or by statute, to pay a domestic support obligation must certify that all payments due under the order or statute are current before the discharge can be issued. 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a). • Section 522(q). The court may not issue…

Applicable law & procedure. After confirmation of the chapter 13 plan, the court may grant a discharge to a debtor that has not completed payments under the plan only if: (1) the debtor’s failure to complete such payments is due to circumstances for which the debtor should not justly be held accountable; (2) the value, as of the effective date of the plan, of property actually distributed under the plan on account of each allowed unsecured claim is not less than the amount that would have been paid on such claim if the estate of the debtor had been liquidated under chapter 7 of [the Bankruptcy Code] on such date; and (3) modification of the plan under section 1329 of [the Bankruptcy Code] is not…

As reported on studentloanborrowerassistance.org , nearly two years after NCLC filed their initial request, the NCLC is finally able to close the file on their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education. Back in March of 2013, NCLC sent a FOIA request to the Department requesting documents related to the financial incentives and oversight of the 22 private collection agencies that collect federal student loans. In response, NCLC received no useful information. Of the 25 pages NCLC received, 17 were completely black, and 8 pages had all but the debt collectors’ names redacted. Finally, after months of getting no response to our appeal, NCLC filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the Department of Education. Under the terms of…

Yes. Cracks are starting to appear in the armor that traditionally protected public pensions. As reported by the ABI – First in Detroit, then in Stockton, CA, and now in New Jersey, judges and other top officials are challenging the widespread belief that public pensions are untouchable, the New York Times reported yesterday. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie delivered the latest blow on Tuesday, when he proposed to freeze that state’s public pension plans and move workers into new ones intended not to overwhelm future budgets or impose open-ended demands on taxpayers. The first crack came in Detroit, where a judge ruled that public pensions could, in fact, be reduced, at least in bankruptcy. Then, just a few weeks ago, an opinion by the bankruptcy…

As reported by the ABI Fifteen former students announced on Monday that they’d had enough of their student loan debt debacle and were going on a “debt strike” until the government canceled their student loans, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The “Corinthian 15” took out federal loans to attend colleges run by Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit company that has agreed to close or sell all of its schools amid investigations into wrongdoing by multiple state attorneys general. The campaign peels the cover off a long-simmering headache for the Department of Education, which has forgiven most of the private loans that Corinthian sold students, but has not granted relief to the people who owe the government for their time at the disgraced for-profit colleges. Refusing to pony…

Yes. As reported by Valerie P. Morrison and Dylan G. Trache of Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough LLP (Washington, D.C.) in the ABI Bankruptcy Brief, the Supreme Court yesterday heard oral argument in the case of Baker Botts LLP, et al. v. Asarco LLC. The issue before the Court is whether bankruptcy judges have discretion under Sect. 330(a) of the Bankruptcy Code to award compensation for fees and costs incurred by counsel to defend their fee applications in bankruptcy court. Based largely on a textual analysis of Sect. 330 of the Bankruptcy Code, the Fifth Circuit held that bankruptcy judges do not have such discretion, and established a per se rule prohibiting such awards. ASARCO, L.L.C. v. Jordan Hyden Womble Culbreth & Holzer, P.C. (In…