The FTC recently imposed the second-steepest penalty ever imposed on a debt collector. According to the New York Times, Asset Acceptance, one of the largest collection companies in the country, recently agreed to pay a 2.5 million penalty to settle charges that company deceived consumers in the process of trying to collect debts.

I suppose that this is supposed to be good news and maybe even an indication that the federal government is finally poised to take action against an industry that nightly leaves thousands of grandmothers and single mothers across the country in a state of terror, waiting for collectors to make good on their false promises to sic the sheriff on them or have them imprisoned. However, given the profitability of the debt collection industry, the penalty doesn’t even rate as a slap on the wrist.

The original post is titled Asset Acceptance Fined for Illegal Collections Activity , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

An article in today’s New York Times at contains a discussion of a recent study which strongly suggests that bankruptcy attorneys have been disproportionately channelling their African American clients into Chapter 13 Bankruptcies rather than Chapter 7.

It is unclear why this is taking place. Though there is a great deal of overlap, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy meets very different needs than does Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. It is entirely possible that a greater portion of a given ethnic or racial demographic could find Chapter 13 to be a better solution than Chapter 7. However, the Study does seem to suggest that racism, however unconscious, is a more likely cause.

The original post is titled , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

Given the horrible weather confronting bankruptcy clients in the Seattle area, I thought it might be a good time to mention that if weather resuls in the closing of court facilities, a weather Notice will always be posted on the court’s website at http://www.wawb.uscourts.gov/.

Bankruptcy hearings are held in several different locations and conditions may differ between Seattle and Tacoma and among the remote hearing locations of Vancouver, Marysville and Port Orchard. In the event that any hearing location within the district is unavailable due to inclement weather, the judges may decide to continue those hearings to another date.

The original post is titled Washington Bankruptcy Court Weather Closures , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

Bankruptcy filings declined by nearly twelve percent in 2011 from the year before. There were approximately 1.4 million bankruptcies filed overall. Roughly seventy percent of those filed cases were Chapter 7 Bankruptcy cases and about a third were Chapter 13 cases. While both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filings declined, Chapter 7 filings declined more than Chapter 13s.

The original post is titled Bankruptcy Filings Decline Nationally for 2011 , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

In the years after a Chapter 13 Plan is confirmed, circumstances, such as job loss, disability and long term illness, may arise that conspire to keep a debtor from completing the Chapter 13 Plan. When such situations arise, the debtor may request that the court to grant a “hardship discharge.” rather than force the debtor to complete an untenable plan.

Normally a hardship discharge is available only where the following elements are present:

1.) The creditors have received at least as much as they would have received if the debtor had originally filed Chapter 7. Thus, if the debtor filed Chapter 13 because she had 10,000 of non-exempt equity in a home and in her Chapter 13, she paid out less than $10,000 to her unsecured creditors, she would not be eligible for hardship discharge.

2.) The debtor’s failure to submit all the required plan payments is due to circumstances completrely beyond the debtor’s control and through no fault of the debtor; and

3.) Modification of the plan is not possible. Job loss, illness or injury that bars employment sufficient to fund even a modified plan may serve as the basis for a hardship discharge. Opting for hardship discharge is appropriate where modification simply will not work.

The original post is titled Hardship Discharge in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

Why Have the Number of Bankruptcy Filings Gone Down a Bit From Last Year?

1. Banks have tightened their lending rules for the last two years. For years, banks doled out credit cards like beer nuts to consumers. It used to be that that banks almost provided credit cards on demand without any regard for the consumer’s ability to pay. However, with banks tightening credit, there are simply fewer credit card accounts in default that would require a bankruptcy filing.

2. As a result of the recession, debtors are simply spending less. A recent poll revealed that consumers were spending significantly less per month in stores than they were previously. As a result, they may be charging less and getting into less debt.

3. Many victims of the current recession have already filed for bankruptcy relief in the past two years. During this time, there were about three million bankruptcy filings.

4. Many debtors who have really hit bottom are having difficulty coming up with the cash to pay their bankruptcy legal fees and filing: Most firms are demanding all attorney and filing fees up front prior to filing. Northwest Debt Relief Law Firm is likely the sole exception to that rule.

5. For the better part of the past year, many mortgage lenders halted their foreclosures due to widespread challenges to the validity of their internal processes. Most lenders will be beginning these foreclosures anew in the coming year.

6. Under bankruptcy code, a consumer must wait eight years from the date of a previous Chapter 7 filing before being eligible to file for Chapter 7 relief again. An enormous number of bankruptcies were filed in 2005 in anticipation of changes to the bankruptcy code. There was also a large rush on filing in the later part of the last decade. Unfortunately, many of these past Chapter 7 filers are aware of how much better off they would be filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy rather than waiting until they become Chapter 7 eligible again.

The original post is titled Why Have the Number of Bankruptcy Filings Gone Down a Bit From Last Year? , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

For some time, it was unclear what should be the appropriate rate of interest on secured loans on personal property(cars, furniture, etc.) paid through a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Plan. In 2004, however, the Supreme Court settled the issue and determined a formula to be used in Chapter 13 cases. (Till v. SCS Credit Corporation, 541 U.S 465 (2004).) The Court announced that the rate should be the national prime rate, adjusted slightly upward to account for the risk of lending to a bankruptcy debtor. In the Till case, the risk was deemed to be 1.5% over prime. Lower courts have generally approved adjustments in the range of 1% to 3% over prime. Generally in both Oregon and Washington, the resulting rate ranges somewhere between four and six percent.

The original post is titled What Interest Rates Will I Pay on Secured Loans in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy? , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

When it comes to listing your creditors for inclusion on your bankruptcy schedules, you should provide the contact addresses provided by any creditors that have contacted you at least twice in the last ninety days. With respect to creditors that have not contacted you in the last ninety days, you would want to provide the contact addresses that the creditor used in its last two communications.

You should certainly provide the names and addresses of any third party collectors that have had any contact with you at all and disclose the identities of the original debts.

Though there is nothing wrong with listing to-the penny amounts owed for all your creditors, the reality is that the amounts will become outdated as soon as they are written down. Just come up with the best numbers that you can.

Finally, it is vitally important that you make sure that your attorney understands which of your debts are potentially attached to real or personal property. Most people are quick to note which loans are attached to houses or homes, but what about tire or computer loans. Is that Dell credit card really just a credit card? Here full disclosure is the only way to go.

The original post is titled Providing Creditor Addresses for My Bankruptcy Schedules , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

You will want to make sure that your creditors will know who exactly who you are when they receive notice of your bankruptcy filing. To that end, If you have been known by any other name at all in the last eight years, you will want to make sure that your bankruptcy attorney lists that name as well.

If you’ve operated a business as a sole proprietor during the previous eight years, include your trade name (fictitious or assumed business name) preceded by “dba” for “doing business as.” But don’t include minor variations in spelling or form. Of course this additional name stuff can be taken too far: If your name is Thomas Adams McAvity, you don’t have to put down that you’re sometimes known as Tom McAvity But if you’ve used the pseudonym T.A. McAvity, you should list it.

If you’re uncertain, list any name that you think you might have given to a creditor. Do the same for your spouse if you are filing together.

The original post is titled What Name Should I Use on My Bankruptcy Petition? , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

The total number of U.S. bankruptcies filed during fiscal year 2011 dropped 8 percent over fiscal year 2010, according to data released yesterday by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Consumer bankruptcy filings decreased 11 percent. Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings decreased by seven percent. Consumer chapter 7 filings dropped as well, decreasing by thirteen percent. The total consumer bankruptcy filings for the third quarter showed a 9 percent decrease from the total consumer bankruptcy filings in the second quarter of 2011.

The total filings for the third calendar quarter 2011 represented an 18 percent decrease from the same period during 2010.

The bankruptcy filing rate per thousand U.S. residents totaled 4.85 for all chapters during the 12-month period ending September 30, 2011, as 3.44 Americans per thousand filed for chapter 7 while 1.37 per thousand filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy.

In something less than a shocker, Nevada maintained its stranglehold as the state with the highest per capita filing rate in the country, with nearly ten residents per thousand filing in all chapters, and also had the highest per capita filing rate for chapter 7 filings at 7.34. The state with the highest per capita filing rate for chapter 13 bankruptcy was Alabama at 3.85 per thousand for the 12-month period ended September 30, 2011.

The original post is titled Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Decline During 2011 , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .