New York Bankruptcy Archives - Page 34 of 56 - Bankruptcy Attorney in Brooklyn, New York

7 Ways Debtors Benefit From the 2016 Bankruptcy Dollar-Amount Adjustments

Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Credit cards, Debt, Exemptions, Means Test / By Matt Leichter

Step aside February 29th, April 1st is the real leap year for 2016. No, the calendar didn’t change; rather, the federal government will adjust the Bankruptcy Code’s dollar amounts to correspond with inflation, something it does once every three years. Specifically, section 104(a) lists all of the parts of the Bankruptcy Code containing dollar figures …

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Student-Loan Delinquencies Fall Hardest on Middle-Income Minorities

Bankruptcy, Debt / By Matt Leichter

A few weeks back, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth (WCEG) continued its geographic study of student-loan debt, this time focusing on debtors’ races. Because of the fraught path to discharging student loans in bankruptcy, falling behind on loan payments can disqualify debtors from helpful protections like income-based repayment programs. Consequently, when the WCEG found …

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Bankruptcy and the NYT’s Bleak Perspective on Renting

Bankruptcy, Debt, Foreclosure / By Matt Leichter

A couple years ago I wrote about the rental housing crisis in New York City. The New York Times investigated apartment rents throughout the country and found that for NYC, the median rent as a share of median income was 39.5 percent. The recommended ratio for tenants is 30 percent. This didn’t mean the median …

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10 Years After Bankruptcy Reform: Means-Testing Doesn’t Work

Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Legislation, Means Test / By Matt Leichter

The 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) changed New York bankruptcy in some dramatic ways, particularly chapter 7. It also changed New York bankruptcy lawyers’ practices: The recently revised bankruptcy forms they complete for clients are an echo of the BAPCPA. Most of the BAPCPA went into effect in October 2005, and …

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NYT Slams Bank Overdraft Fees

Bankruptcy, Credit cards, Creditors, Debt / By Matt Leichter

Last month, I wrote about research into the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act that discussed how the law benefited consumers. One area it fell short was overdraft fees. Consumers could pay up to $25 per over-limit transaction or $35 if up to six previous charges were also over the line. Despite this …

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What Is a ‘Household’ in Bankruptcy? Does That Include Roommates?

Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Means Test / By Matt Leichter

New York City might be known for its large number residents who live alone, but roommate and similar situations are still quite common—witness HBO’s Girls‘ satire of them. Thus, it’s not unheard of for debtors to file bankruptcy even if they don’t share a close relationship with the people they’re living with. This becomes a …

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Researchers Disagree Over Debt-Management Strategies

Bankruptcy, Credit cards, Debt / By Matt Leichter

It’s unusual for august publications like Scientific American to discuss why people might not manage debts as well as they should, particularly those who are otherwise good with numbers. Nevertheless, that’s exactly the question a guest blog post tackled recently: Debtors with multiple debts tend to focus on paying down the ones with the smallest …

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The Mechanics of the Means Test

Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Means Test / By Matt Leichter

I recently wrote about the means test deductions in chapter 7 and threw in specific numbers for New York bankruptcy. I haven’t written precisely on what happens next, so now’s a good opportunity. For review, the means test itself can be found in section 707(b)(2). Debtors take the means test if their “current monthly incomes” …

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CFPB Showcases New York Consumers’ Financial Complaints

Credit cards, Creditors, Debt, Mortgage / By Matt Leichter

Each month the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) publishes a monthly report that explores consumers’ financial complaints, and it usually focuses on one region in the country. For January 2016, the agency chose New York State and the New York metro area, which the CFPB defines as the city along with several zip codes in …

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Surge in Student Debt ‘Borrower Defense’ Discharge Claims

Debt / By Matt Leichter

The bad news for student-loan debtors is that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case filed by a debtor to clarify the “undue hardship” standard for discharging student loans. For now, the disparate rules laid down by the federal circuit courts of appeal will remain in effect, meaning debtors’ cases depend in part …

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