Debtors in Rush to Bankruptcy as Change Nears

[Rose Siding]

BOISE, Idaho - Rushing to beat an October deadline when the biggest overhaul of the bankruptcy law in a quarter century goes into effect, rising numbers of Americans have filed for protection in the four months since the law was changed, seeking to have their debts erased.

Since President Bush signed the new law in April, bankruptcy filings have jumped, particularly in the heartland. Filings in the four months through July are up 17 percent this year over last in Cleveland, 14 percent in Milwaukee and 22 percent in northern Iowa, according to court filings, matching similar patterns in the Midwest and parts of the South and rural West.
.....
Here in Idaho, the soundless wave of Americans going broke washes up at the clerk's office in bankruptcy court, with nearly 20 fresh declarations of desperation every working day.
.....
Courts in Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin, among other places, report that people are hurrying into bankruptcy in numbers rarely seen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/national/21bankruptcy.html?ex=1282276800&en=c19a1994a8acd48e&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[54anickel]

1. How long before they bring back debtor's prison? eom

[Theres-a]

2. I wonder about that,too.

[wli]

14. my guess is that's what the more isolated REX 84 camps are for

There's already a precedent for using REX 84/Guantanamo -style camps and forced labor in the Mariana Islands. This is what the 2-year-old indictments that went nowhere against Abramoff were about, except it's not clear that debt was a motive.

[liberalhistorian]

19. They already have, in some cases.

Some hospitals are using the rare technique of "body attachments" against uninsured people who can't pay their horrendous bills and who can't make the kind of payment schedule demanded by the hospital. Beyond sickening, isn't it?

[54anickel]

22. "Body attachments"??? Never heard of such a thing. Whazzit? n/t

[depakid]

27. It's a warrant for your arrest

and collection agencies and other creditors WILL use them if you don't show up for a judgment debtors' hearing.

[arikara]

29. Geeze! It sounded like

they were forcing people to give up a kidney or an arm or something. I'm glad I'm in Canada where you don't go broke if you get sick.

[depakid]

30. Yep- you're very fortunate

a very large percentage of those who file bankruptcy (even those who are nomonally insured) end up filing because of medical bills- a fact that Senate minority "leader" Harry Reid apparently doesn't care much about.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

31. May I request a "body attachment" link?

:humble:

[depakid]

33. Here ya go-

http://progressive.org/?q=node/911

[54anickel]

35. Sheesh. We'll be singin' "I owe my soul to the hospital store". Debt

servitude to the hospital she worked for? :shakesheadwildly:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

42. Whimsical.

Thanks.

[liberalhistorian]

46. The Wall Street Journal, of all

papers, also did an extensive series examining this very issue, which is where I first had the misfortune of hearing about "body attachments."

Hospitals are now considered among the most aggressive collectors in the country, and even the most ruthless collection agencies have expressed shock at their use of the arrest warrant technique for debt. And the non-profit ones are becoming as bad as the for-profit ones.

The health "care" system has now become nothing more than a tool for the benefit of the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies. But, yeah, we still have the "best health care in the world" and "Canada's system sucks", etc., etc., sayeth those who don't have to deal with worrying about paying for medical care or losing their house in an illness-caused bankruptcy or foreclosure by the hospital.

It is time for us to fight against this with everything we have, as if our lives depended on it. In fact, our lives very well MAY depend on it.

[Theres-a]

37. Happened to me in 2002.

I'd better stay far away from hospitals.No insurance.:(

[54anickel]

32. That's disgusting. Cripes, next thing they'll be planting a chip in you

to make it easier for authorities to track you down.

[wli]

40. okay, it's time to run

This is way too risky. Emigration is turning into a matter of life and death.

[existentialist]

28. Not that it would mean anything to the neocons

But debt servitude is unconstitutional.

[kestrel91316]

44. Since when did "unconstitutional" deter the RW??

[bluestateguy]

3. One last "fuck off" to the credit card companies!

n/t

[shanti]

9. exactly

i hope some people are filing JUST for that reason alone because of this new fucked up law! :grr:

by the time all the people are done filing, it won't a bk on your record won't mean shyt!

[VegasWolf]

4. This plan will leave Bankruptcy as a solution for wealthy corporations

just as God intended these laws to be used.

[NMDemDist2]

5. I had an appointment with my DieHard Democrat BK lawyer this week

since I filed Chap 13 last year. He told me for the first time ever in 20+ years of BK practice they offered a credit card company 50 cents on the dollar for a debt and the CC comp. refused!

what not many people realize is that also part of the new laws is that CC companies are doubling the minimum payments in October too. The credit card companies are holding tight until the new law goes into effect to squeeze every last penny out of the debts

by the time most people realize it, it will be too late.......

[jpak]

7. The perfect fucking economic storm this winter

Record high heating oil and natural gas prices.

Record high gasoline prices.

Doubled minimum credit card payments.

The GOP is doomed in 2006....

[NMDemDist2]

8. yes, but lots and lots of people will suffer to get there. :cry: n/t

[natrat]

20. no they will just steal from us at the polls

[graywarrior]

6. I saw a lawyer about filing for bankruptcy and I decided

fuck it. I don't own a house, my car is shit, they can garnish wages, yet, and CC's will not make a deal with me for payment.

So, I say fuck them. I have one credit card I can use to rebuild. I got 3 more years til everything is wiped off my credit report. We may not be around in a few years anyway, the way things are going so why give a shit about paying them off.

[FloridaPat]

21. They still can't get blood from stone. They usually only go after

assets like homes. Good luck. You're one credit card may disappear if they think you may do the same to them as you did to the other cards.

[graywarrior]

36. I paid them off a few months ago and they just sent me a new

card, which I have not activated yet. I really don't care if they take it. I haven't used it for awhile.

[annabanana]

10. If they were "caught by surprise"..

They are WAY to stupid to have the jobs that they do...

"The rise, which lawyers and bankruptcy experts say is driven in large part by people who say they fear that it will become much more difficult to escape debt and seek a clean slate under the new law, appears to have caught some bankers and lawyers by surprise"

[Trillo]

11. One way to protest the new banruptcy law would be to never use a

credit card for anything after its implemented. Its unfortunate this would hurt so many of the online buisnesses that require electronic payment, but maybe it wouldn't hurt much because its fairly widely known that there is no money (or not much money) on the Internet.

I recently used one of my CCs to make an online purchase, and even though I'll pay it off completely as soon as I get the bill, it does grant the bank a certain cash flow and income (3% ?) from the purchase, and it may help in the creation of new dollars in circulation (this is an area of fractional reserve banking where I can't get consensus from opposing "experts" in plain-speak).

The only thing they care about is money.

[wli]

12. already doing it; I use debit only n/t

[mike_c]

45. me too...

eom

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. When I buy things online in Brazilian stores

I get a printable bill - barcode and all - that I pay at the bank, at a time of my convenience. Merchandise is delivered when payment hits store's account. If I don't pay until day X, purchase is considered cancelled.

So... even THAT is doable without credit cards. Fuck them all.

[Trillo]

15. This should be implemented here in the U.S.!

It seems more secure than granting e-wire-access to a bank account number by a third party, as in a debit card online which often due to lack of pin entry is actually routed through the big CC clearing companies. It also keeps the human account holder in charge.

Thanks for sharing information that's new to me!

[Thor_MN]

18. Holy Coincidence, Batman.

I just read the term "fractional reserve banking" last night for the first time ever - in a novel, no less. It is in Robert A Henlein's "first" novel, that is, a novel that he wrote before he was established as an author as was unedited until recently. It's called "For us, the living" (taken from an Abe Lincoln quote.)

The book reviews the history of the US from 2086, so far there have been some scary concepts. The government gets taken over by corrupt officials by making everything confidential/national security/hush hush, contolling the media, sidetracking any military personnel that lean liberal and promoting the freeptard types. The National Guard is neutralized by cotrolling what weapons they get from the federal government and pulling back everything at the moment of the take over under the guise of weapons exchange. So they ran the Guard into the ground and then took over the nation.

It only lasted for a few years, and the guy that was in charge next destroyed the strangle hold that the private banking system has by creating a national bank and then increasing the fractional reserve requirement. The essence is that banks a re required to keep only a fraction of the currency in their system in reserve. It allows them to loan to people money that they don't have, creating "new" currency based solely on the credit of their customers. The new bank based its rates on a service charge and an insurance premium and was effectively owned by the people. The private banking industry was removed as a power source....

Another concept, that I really like is that an ammendment was passed that except in the case of invasion, congress could not declare war without a national referendum. The only people that voted in the referendum were those eligible for military service. A "Yes" vote counted as your enlistment document and had directions on where and when to report if the referendum passed. Those that didn't vote became the second draft and those that voted "No" were the third.

Given the chickhawk nature of the current backers of the Great Iraq Fuckup, I'd bet we would not be in this mess if we had that ammendment....

[FloridaPat]

39. Debit cards are the answer. Even if you have to set up a seperate

account if you're worried about your regular checking. They have enough laws in place where the money gets put back into your account if there's a question about it.

[niallmac]

16. Wow, doubled minimums

Just when I had resigned myself to a pointless life of payments too!
Family had a crises around 911. (not an attempt to cop out on my responsibilities to make good financial decisions...just the way it happened)
Had to live off CC's until we found work back in the u s of a.
Have resisted bankruptcy due to hope that we could keep a credit rating.
Scary now. Can not possibly pay double monthly payments.
Interesting times. Best friends don't really talk of these things. A semi annon blog perhaps but not in person with each other.
We are an american family and all but we are also very open to any alternative that
would allow us to get the hell out of this soul sucking excuse for a homeland.
Continue to fight the fight but it's getting really scary, not too hard, scary.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

24. File now

The credit card companies will ruin you, come October. I'm advising anyone with 10,000 dollars of credit card debt to run - don't walk - to a bankruptcy attorney and get it filed.

Your credit rating can be rebuilt a whole more easily starting now than it will be after the new law goes into effect. Besides, do you really want to put that much interest in the credit card companies' pockets?

File. There's no shame attached to bankruptcy. As we were taught in law school, it's nothing more than a chance for a fresh start - and that's what America is all about.

Also, as soon as you file, you'll get lots of offers for credit cards. They'll want you bad, because they know you won't ever be able to file and erase their debts again.

Just some unsolicited advice. Feel free to ignore me - please.

And good luck.

[PassingFair]

25. Can one spouse go into bankruptcy without damaging the others

credit?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

26. Good question

I'm not a bankruptcy lawyer, so I have no idea. But that's a very good question.

[54anickel]

34. Depends....

Google is your friend to research, but I'd see an attorney to help decide for sure.

http://www.moranlaw.net/alone.htm

http://bankruptcy-law.freeadvice.com/consumer_bankruptcy/spouse_bankruptcy.htm

[Theres-a]

38. OMG! Moran law

Heh,heh.

[SW FL Dem]

43. It depends

There are lots of factors to consider, generally speaking, if the debt is only one spouse's and you don't live in a community property state, the other spouse shouldn't be affected. However, there are lots of exceptions so you should definitely consult a lawyer in your state before you do anything.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

17. Maybe it's just me

but I smell a major shitstorm coming this fall.

[leesa]

23. The economy is booming...

[FloridaPat]

41. Yeah, I can tell from all the job offers I don't have. 8 months with no

income and counting. Yes, great economy