Monthly Archives: September 2010

Ally Financial’s GMAC mortgage company in hot water over foreclosures

By doug | Published: September 24, 2010

Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit has suspended foreclosures in 23 states amid suggestions that all the necessary paperwork is not in order. The states affected are so-called judicial foreclosure jurisdictions, where a judge must sign off on the right to foreclose in court. Both Massachusetts and New Hampshire are not judicial foreclosure states, so […]

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For love or Money? Shacking up to save a buck

By doug | Published: September 24, 2010

According to Associated Press reporter Hope Yen, Census Bureau honchos are scratching their heads over a sudden spike in the the number of unmarried couples living together in the United States. The number of opposite sex unmarried couples jumped 13 percent in just the last year. Unable to pinpoint any stunning sexual trends behind the […]

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Requiem for Blockbuster

By doug | Published: September 24, 2010

The Boston Globe put up a good editorial on the Blockbuster bankruptcy case this morning, noting that “the video chain’s troubles are still sad for anyone who discovered a love of movies on the amply stocked aisle of a Blockbuster store.” Its not often that a major newspaper shows some love for a chain store, […]

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Blockbuster of a bankruptcy!

By doug | Published: September 23, 2010

Remember going to the video store? Like pumping bath water from a town well, for many Americans a trip to the local Blockbuster outlet is also a quaint reminder of a bygone time. Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today, a move that has been in the works for a while. According to the Associated […]

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Massachusetts foreclosures reach highest level of the year

By doug | Published: September 23, 2010

The news on the foreclosure front just keeps getting tougher and tougher; Massachusetts foreclosures have now reached the highest level of 2010. The Warren Group counted 2,713 new foreclosure petitions filed in August alone. 2,307 foreclosure petitions were filed in July in Massachusetts. Foreclosure petitions indicate the start of a new attempt to foreclose on […]

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Filing for bankruptcy? Get it right the first time

By doug | Published: September 22, 2010

While bankruptcy forms may be endlessly amended, there is much to be said for submitting them correctly at the outset of the case. A good example of this can be found in the Yonjan case, a recent decision by bankruptcy judge William Hillman in Boston. There the debtor was the former operator and president of […]

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A good way to screw up a bankruptcy case, part 2

By doug | Published: September 22, 2010

It probably goes without saying that debtors should take care to file their bankruptcy under their own names and social security numbers — you wouldn’t want an accidental (or purposeful) mistake in this regard! Since 2002, the first order of business at every debtor’s creditors meeting is to check the debtor’s photo ID and social […]

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Are Americans really paying off thier bills, or are card companies just more ruthless?

By doug | Published: September 20, 2010

Initial reports from the financial markets last week would seem to bode well for the consumer economy: according to syndicated columnist Michelle Singletary, Americans appear to be paying down the balances on their credit cards. Trans Union said that average balances on bank-issued cards had dropped for a fifth consecutive quarter. CreditKarma reported that consumer […]

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Ever get a Robo-call on your cell phone?

By doug | Published: September 20, 2010

If bill collectors have ever used an auto-dialer (a.k.a. “robo-call”) to ring you up on your cell phone, they could be in big trouble. It is not the bankruptcy code per se that prevents this, but a related federal consumer protection law called the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Florida attorney Chip Parker has posted a […]

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Bankruptcy world turned upside down

By doug | Published: September 19, 2010

Alumni magazines are often a quick read and a throw-away, but I just got one from my dear old alma mater (Northeastern U.) that caught my eye. Professor Daniel Austin wrote a nice article entitled “Consumer Bankruptcy: Staggering Towards Coherency.” You can read the full article here. Professor Austin’s thesis is that the 2005 BAPCPA […]

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