Written December 30, 2006 by Jay Fleischman, New York Bankruptcy Lawyer
By Jay S. Fleischman, Esq.
Geographer Warren Bland has chosen the top 10 value towns for retirees, and the list is pretty informative. The top of his list? Hot Springs, Arkansas where single-family houses from 1,600 to 2,100 square feet average $135,000 to $225,000, according to Hot Springs-based Coldwell Banker Alliance Realty statistics.To rank the towns, the following criteria were used: landscape, climate, quality of life, cost of living, transportation, retail services, health care, community services, cultural activities, recreational activities, work/volunteer activities and crime.
Bland, the author of “Retire in Style: 60 Outstanding Places Across the USA and Canada,” said increased access to information about other parts of the country — and world — via the Internet has helped retirees expand their options beyond Florida.
Below is Bland’s list of top value towns, from the least to most expensive:
- Hot Springs, Ark.
- Winston-Salem, N. C.
- Fayetteville, Ark.
- Bowling Green, Ky.
- Lawrence, Kan.
- Columbia, Mo.
- Pittsburgh, Pa.
- Gainesville, Fla.
- San Antonio, Texas
- Colorado Springs, Colo.
Read the whole story by clicking here.
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You go through a bankruptcy case - Chapter 7, Chapter 13, it doesn’t matter which - and come out the other side of the case. You didn’t reaffirm your mortgage, and have opted to continue making payments.
A little while down the road, you miss a few payments. The mortgage lender serves you with papers for foreclosure and you get angry. Hey,you say, they can’t do this to me. I filed for bankruptcy!
Unfortunately, you’re incorrect. If you fall behind on the mortgage after bankruptcy the lender can - and will - foreclose on the house. Unless you’ve reaffirmed the debt during your bankruptcy, they can’t seek a deficiency judgment against you if the house doesn’t sell for enough money to cover the mortgage. That’s the difference.
A foreclosure action is a lawsuit to recover property, not to enforce a money judgment. For the most part, a mortgage remains intact after a bankruptcy case. That means the mortgage company can foreclose even after the case is finished.
But remember that the mortgage company cannot seek a deficiency judgment against you through the foreclosure. That’s why it’s important for you to have a lawyer carefully review the foreclosure papers to make sure they aren’t also suing you for a deficiency. If they are, it’s against the bankruptcy laws and considered a violation of the discharge injunction.
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Did you know that your credit report is used for more than just applying for a credit card, home loan or car loan? That’s right, your credit report is routinely checked by automobile insurance companies when you apply for a policy or renew an existing one.
Apparently insurance companies believe that people who don’t pay their bills on time either get into more accidents or just don’t pay their insurance premiums. Whatever the reason, it’s a nearly universal practice.
As anyone who has ever gotten turned down for a credit card knows, when you receive that declination letter (it’s called a “notice of adverse action,” because it sometimes isn’t a declination but rather a letter telling you that they couldn’t offer you a loan at 4% but could offer you one at 24%) in the mail you are informed of the name and phone number of the credit reporting agency that produced a report for the potential credit grantor to review. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you are able to request a free copy of your credit report from that agency as a way of seeing what exactly the grantor saw. The thinking is that this will give you the opportunity to correct any errors, contact the creditor to iron out the details, and possibly get a better decision.
Well, it seems as if the insurance companies haven’t been sending out those letters to people. So the Delaware Insurance Commissioner has enlisted the help of 12 other states to file briefs with the Supreme Court in the cases of Safeco v. Burr and GEICO v. Edo.
Consumers in the cases claim that insurance companies Safeco and GEICO violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. The consumers said that when a consumer’s credit information resulted in the consumer receiving a higher rate, insurers should have sent out “adverse action notices” required under FCRA and acted in “willful” disregard of the FCRA in not doing so.
Check out this story in the Insurance Journal for more on the cases. The National Consumer Law Center also filed a brief in the case, which you can read here; the brief is very technical, but interesting if you like reading legal arguments.
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Consumer bankruptcy cases are not litigation. Read that a few times, and let it sink in.
The truth is that consumer Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy is largely an administrative matter. Sure, bankruptcy cases are filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court but that’s pretty much where the court-part ends. In a standard Chapter 7 case the debtor (in other words, the person filing for bankruptcy) goes to a brief meeting with a trustee and never sees a judge. In fact, the U.S. Bankruptcy Code specifically states that the judge is not allowed to preside over this meeting, which is called a “Meeting of Creditors.”
The Meeting of Creditors is designed to determine whether the debtor has disclosed all of his or her assets and liabilities, and to inquire as to the assets that can be liquidated for the benefit of creditors. Creditors are allowed to show up and ask questions, but that seldom happens. With so many bankruptcy cases filed, creditors simply could not afford to send a representative to every Meeting of Creditors.
In Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases (the ones in New York, at least) there is one court hearing, called a Hearing on Confirmation. This is presided over by the judge, but it’s just a simple hearing to make sure that the Chapter 13 Plan is adequate under the law.
Most consumer bankruptcy lawyers got into the field because they knew it didn’t require any courtroom work. No trials, nothing like Law & Order or Perry Mason, just some administrative work and a thorough knowledge of the Bankruptcy Code.
But sometimes, people get sued when they go into bankruptcy. Maybe they incurred a debt that a creditor claims should not be discharged, maybe an asset transfer is claimed to be fraudulent . . . in fact, there are a host of reasons why someone would get dragged into a court battle.
There are other times when someone who files for bankruptcy may have the right to drag someone else into court. Creditors violate the automatic stay and discharge injunction, a Proof of Claim in a Chapter 13 case may be improper, a mortgage servicer may have improperly tagged bogus charges onto a loan . . . once again, the list goes on and on.
If you’re a consumer bankruptcy lawyer chances are good that you don’t want to bring anyone into court. And if your client is sued in bankruptcy, you probably don’t want to handle the case. If you’re the consumer, you may find yourself without a lawyer who is willing and able to help you out in a tough spot.
This site is designed to help give a flavor of the types of bankruptcy litigation that exist, how to spot a problem before it blows up in your face, and an introduction to how I may be able to help. If you have a problem, call me in my office at 646-722-8649 x704.
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