Sheryl told you about Governor Mark Sanford’s veto of a new exemption bill, which determines how much property can be protected from creditors. The South Carolina statutory amounts hadn’t been changed since 1979. The good news is that lawmakers in Columbia voted overwhelmingly to override the governor’s veto, and the new measure […]

More than 400 real estate managers and workers have been indicted in a broad-spectrum federal investigation of mortgage fraud. The FBI reported that the losses to homeowners resulting from the criminal conduct is over $1 billion. (That’s “billion.” With a “B.”)
From MSNBC.com’s article on the sweep:

Since March 1, 406 people have been arrested in the […]

According to a new study that will be released formally today to a Congressional committee, senior citizens are filing for bankruptcy protection at “sharply faster rates” than other segments of the population. (See the full article on the study at USAToday.com.)
This should surprise no one. The elderly among us are often a bellwether of sorts […]

According to some analysts, the foreclosure crisis is spreading to other sectors of the credit industry and will continue to “drag down” the economy into ‘09 and later:

When financial analyst Meredith Whitney wrote in a report last October that the nation’s largest bank, Citigroup, lacked sufficient capital for the risks it had assumed, she was […]

It’s do or die time.
That’s what it looks like at the SC General Assembly this week, as the payday industry gears up for a Thursday hearing before a House subcommittee on a Senate bill that would come very close to putting a stop to the payday industry’s free ride thus far.
The bill (which, […]

Believe it or not, the IRS loses $37 million each year on private debt collectors paid to dun citizens for tax debt.
Appallingly, these aren’t even the very wealthy tax scofflaws being hunted by the expensive collection agencies:
After years of lobbying by the private collection industry, the Republican-controlled Congress created the program in 2004. The goal […]

I don’t know about you, but when I read something like this, the irony is too thick to permit genuine laughter.

Every time I hear someone blame the borrowers in this subprime scandal, I have to chuckle a little. I have no doubt that some borrowers were, in fact, less than diligent in their “due diligence” — some, no doubt, even went so far as to become bad actors themselves.
But I do remain convinced that’s not […]

We’ll get back to the “Back to Basics” series later, but first, a bit of news on the intersection of bankruptcy and consumer privacy rights.
This article from MSNBC.com suggests the answer is “yes” and the privacy implications are alarming, to say the least:
As recently as August, First Magnus Financial Corp. was the subject of a […]

CNN reports that the Wall Street Journal is confirming that the “troubled” home lender Countrywide is now under FBI investigation for its lending practices:
The mortgage company is suspected of widespread fraud, the paper said, which may have contributed to the subprime mortgage crisis that has rocked the U.S. economy.
The probe will examine underwriting and mortgage […]