When two stupid pieces of legislation collide, you have to ask hmmm...

[The Backlash Cometh]

First, we all knew the bankrupty law was a ticking time bomb. It was probably a good idea if it were directed to people who were investing in homes with the idea of flipping them, (never planning to live in them), but it should have excluded people who only had their primary home as an asset. That law occurred, what? Two or three years ago?

What else happened two or three years ago? The emergence of this stupid mortgage which I think they call TSRs which sounds every bit in violation to any anti-loan sharking regulation I have ever read. Someone else here will be better versed at explaining how they work. I just want to know why this horrible mortgage option was allowed and why are people like Kramer saying that the homeowner who took them probably didn't even know they had it? What happened to full disclosure? Why didn't someone sound the alarm earlier to point out that the combination of the bankruptcy law along with the TSR mortgages were a disaster waiting to happen? Seven million people are involved. That wipes out every poverty advancement we've had since the Clinton years.

Was this combination an accident? What lobbyists were involved in pushing for the bankruptcy law and who is responsible for thinking up the TSRs.

[liberal N proud]

1. All by design IMO

Take down the middle class is their ultimate goal.

[Blackhatjack]

2. Credit Card Companies saw this coming years ago and that's why they paid for the new bankruptcy bill

Credit card obligations are 'unsecured' and therefore under previous bankruptcy law they often did not receive any kind of payment more than cents on the dollar under a Chapter 7 liquidation.

THe new bankruptcy bill prevents many people from filing under Chp 7 liquidation, and forces them into a Chapter 13 wage earner plan that requires the filer to make payments to a trustee for 3 or more years before getting a discharge. During that time the filer is allowed to keep a bare minimum of what the filer earns to pay for necessaries, and the rest is distributed among all the creditors --which often benefits the credit card companies.

And if the filer screws up during the pendency of the Chp 13 administration, they do not get their discharge.

Welcome to the new financial servitude rules.

[thunder rising]

3. PT Barnum (of Barnum and Baily) a sucker is born every 10 minutes

Just sign on the dotted line and everything will be just fine.

Or as WC Feilds said when confronted about gambling, "Gambling? It's not gambling the way I play."