"The Bankruptcy Boom is Back"

[Sammy]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/BankruptcyGuide/TheBankruptcyBoomIsBack.aspx

The bankruptcy boom is back
By Liz Pulliam Weston

[Minnymouth]

Intersting article......

[Sammy]

The author mentioned high energy costs and ARMs, but it's interesting that she omitted the fact that CC companies doubled their minimums once the new laws went into place.

[Bobby'sGirl]

Good article

At least she did mention the usurious interest rates on credit cards when there are late payments; I'm waiting for someone to put it all together in an article and detail how this triple whammy pushes people over the edge even before doubling minimum payments 1) late payment resulting in a higher interest rate 2) lowering limit with no notice thus giving an instant overlimit fee and higher rate, and then 3) other cards on which you are not late going high interest with universal default.

Is there no major financial advice columnist willing to go head to head with the bankers??? My daughter discovered that her one credit card changed the time of "credited that day" on line payment to early afternoon instead of midnight! Fortunately, she was making the payment in the morning!

Also, I wonder if there will ever be true banking reform via Congress considering all our representatives have to be independently wealthy to make a run for office ...and then need the contributions from the bankers to fund re-election. I would love to see Banking reform added to the "platforms" of our major parties....HA HA! Dream on, right...

[oliveoil]

Excellent article, all that work on reform for what. Look what it did for the situation; nothing. Although it does create generate fees and costs to all involved.

[lrprn]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...oomIsBack.aspx

Good article, Sammy - thanks for sharing!

[miss puff]

good read. From what I heard, this is why they are going to start auditing bankruptcies starting in October. To find out why things aren't working the way they thought they would.

[debtisbad]

With gas prices rising and health care costs out of control do they really need to audit to see why bk's are rising. I mean it does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

[robivi3]

These are the "rocket scientists" who tols us that "restructuring" the law would make the BK load much smaller. It is doing what i said it would, expanding the bearaucracy to meet the new load. Kudos Mr. Bush! Kudos! Smaller Government?! The Republican party deserves to get trounced for going back on their "contract with America".

[FoolAndHisMoney]

These are the "rocket scientists" who tols us that "restructuring" the law would make the BK load much smaller. It is doing what i said it would, expanding the bearaucracy to meet the new load. Kudos Mr. Bush! Kudos! Smaller Government?! The Republican party deserves to get trounced for going back on their "contract with America".

I strongly agree, but I'm still more afraid of the Democratic alternative.

When I go into the voting booth this November I will have to decide on the party of BAPCPA,MBNA,CITI,CHASE or the party of Michael Moore. I think we're f..d! I also think I will start going to church again I need to pray more.

[debtisbad]

Fool,

I am scared of all of them. They have completely lost touch with the American people. That said, I am voting democrat for the first time in my life. Yikes!!!!! I am not voting democrat, but rather casting it as an anti republican vote. Really, what choice is there???

[aa06a47]

I think they are all crooks, both the democrats and the republicans are basically goverened by lobbiest money and not necessarily in the best interest of the nation. I for the most part have voted Republican, though I have voted for Democrats from time to time. There are a few congress people in my state I have written and always gotten responses that proved they were out of tune with society.

[FoolAndHisMoney]

I think they are all crooks, both the democrats and the republicans are basically goverened by lobbiest money and not necessarily in the best interest of the nation. I for the most part have voted Republican, though I have voted for Democrats from time to time. There are a few congress people in my state I have written and always gotten responses that proved they were out of tune with society.

What bothers me the most about BAPCPA and the politicians is how easy they re wrote the laws and how it passed both houses and the president signed it. They don't work that hard on the medical coverage crisis, social security & medicare reform, infrastructure problems, federal deficit, but BAPCPA was probably their only accomplishment in recent years and it's only because it was bought and paid for by the big banks. I just wish the same determination went into reforming real problems. They will address the above problems and then the debates will fade out, but BAPCPA was such a high priority you would think they were working on curing cancer the way they were so passionate about this. I wouldn't be so upset with this law if they got other needed reforms passed too.

[lrprn]

What bothers me the most about BAPCPA and the politicians is how easy they re wrote the laws and how it passed both houses and the president signed it. They don't work that hard on the medical coverage crisis, social security & medicare reform, infrastructure problems, federal deficit, but BAPCPA was probably their only accomplishment in recent years and it's only because it was bought and paid for by the big banks. I just wish the same determination went into reforming real problems. They will address the above problems and then the debates will fade out, but BAPCPA was such a high priority you would think they were working on curing cancer the way they were so passionate about this. I wouldn't be so upset with this law if they got other needed reforms passed too.

When you think about it, BAPCPA was easy to pass because all the money interests were on the same side lobbying hard and throwing many millions into the pot to make the law much tougher on consumers who had no $$ to fight back. Pretty obvious what really matters to our congressional representation regardless of party these days - $$$$ for their campaigns, not the best interests of people they represent. The other problems you mentioned (healthcare, social security, federal deficit, etc) have monied interests lobbying for both sides of the proposed legislation - makes it much harder in today's Congress because no matter what they pass, they'll anger at least one heavy $$ contributor to congressional campaigns. Quite a dilemma, so nothing happens. The founding fathers would be shocked to see how tainted our political system has become.

We get what we elect, so when are we the voters going to realize there's power in numbers to counteract $$ power held by a privileged few? Until we refuse to vote for anyone already in office who has shown through their voting record that they don't represent our interests, I don't expect anything will change. And the banks and corporations will continue to contribute to get whatever is best for them and their stockholders passed, not what's best for the country and all of its people.

[anonymuse]

What bothers me the most about BAPCPA and the politicians is how easy they re wrote the laws and how it passed both houses and the president signed it. They don't work that hard on the medical coverage crisis, social security & medicare reform, infrastructure problems, federal deficit, but BAPCPA was probably their only accomplishment in recent years and it's only because it was bought and paid for by the big banks. I just wish the same determination went into reforming real problems. They will address the above problems and then the debates will fade out, but BAPCPA was such a high priority you would think they were working on curing cancer the way they were so passionate about this. I wouldn't be so upset with this law if they got other needed reforms passed too.

BK had (and still has) some issues, but it needed to be addressed from many angles. I blame myself for my debt; however, credit companies need to be made responsible for their predatory tactics and outrageous late fee structures.