Bailout Deal Reached; No Help For Foreclosure Victims

UPDATE: From The Huffington Post comes this article by Dean Baker: Why Bail? - arguing there is no good reason to bail out Wall Street and several good reasons not to lift a finger.
In the immortal words of Little Richard: Good Golly, Miss Molly.  What the bejeebers is going on with this economy?!
Well, we pick [...]

UPDATE: Congress Has “A Bailout Plan”

Congressional leaders have announced they have “a plan” for the bailout. They claim there is something in it to protect homeowners. Something’s better than nothing, right? I don’t know. But you can read more for yourself here at CNN. Details should be forthcoming later this afternoon.

Is Bankruptcy Reform On Its Way Out?

Maybe, if we don’t act now.
News isn’t encouraging this morning. After Senator Obama sold us out changed his mind and stated his belief that the mortgage reform angle was “probably something we shouldn’t try to do in this piece of legislation” predictably the rest of the party followed suit and declared the issue a “nonstarter.” [...]

More on Bailout + Bankruptcy Reform

The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys* has joined the growing chorus of voices demanding that Congress not give in to rampant bullying pressure to act hastily in passing bailout legislation (something I wrote about on this blog right here). As I did in that post, they’ve suggested some language for others (specifically, bankruptcy attorneys) [...]

Breaking: FBI Investigating Mortgage Fraud; 26 Open Cases Reported

CNN reports that the FBI has 26 open cases in which it is investigating mortgage fraud. Some of the targets identified read like a “who’s who” of recent financial crisis news: Lehman Brothers, AIG, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae. Developing

Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights (HR 5244) Passes the House!

Now it’s on to the Senate, which will vote to enact this much needed legislation to ramp up consumer protection against predatory practices such as:

Increasing credit account interest rates for cardholders based on information in their credit reports from other accounts
Double-cycle billing
Unrestricted imposition of overlimit fees
And more.

To read the full text of the bill, [...]

Will Wall Street Bailout Give Us Mortgage Reform?

Negotiations between Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Congressional leaders continue, and specifics of the proposed bailout plan are a bit thin on the ground, but recent reports are that Congressional negotiators will push for provisions that will allow bankruptcy courts to modify certain mortgage terms but that the White House has balked at those provisions.  [...]

New Stuff!

Asides, featured post, pages and more! Read about the latest components of our makeover in progress here.

What’s New At the SCBCL Blog?

Lots! The new look’s taking shape, and I finally managed to get the way-cool features that drew us to this theme up and running. Asides are short snippets of key information — news, events, short blurbs, etc.  Featured Post - just that, one post we want to highlight out of the others.
You’ll also see reconfigured [...]

Upcoming Free Legal Clinic at NMB Library

Meet me at the North Myrtle Beach Library, this Thursday at 6:30 PM, and get all your bankruptcy and consumer law questions answered. For details, read this post.