Marietta Bankruptcy Blog

Rebuilding your credit after Bankruptcy

Here is a very good article found on MSN Money about rebuilding your credit after bankruptcy.  The article can be found here.

Dear Credit Card Company..... So how are the new bankruptcy laws treating you?

Back in October of 2005, the bankruptcy laws changed.  The new changes were pushed very hard by the credit card companies and the they were supposed to make it tougher for individuals to file for consumer bankruptcy.  Although it made it more expensive and more time consuming to file for bankruptcy, the numbers show that not many individuals have been negatively affected by the new laws.  Bankruptcies are on the rise and the numbers will probably continue to go up for the next few years.  This is not good news for the credit card companies.  It makes me wonder if they would have pushed for the new laws if they only knew what was coming around the bend. 

Liz Pulliam Weston, a writer for MSN Money , wrote a very good article on this issue.  That ararticle can be found here.

Senate Defeats "Cram Down Bill"

In a vote of 45-51, the Democratic controlled Senate rejected the "Cram Down Bill" which would have allowed Bankruptcy judges to adjust an individuals mortgage payments through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  The article can be found on the Atlanta Journal Constituion's website here.  

The bill passed through the house in March of this year, and many thought that it would pass through the Senate with ease.  However, the bill seemed to fizzle out when Treasury Secretary Geithner wanted a new governmental program to have private investors buying back these loans.  Further, the banks were screaming that the "cram down bill" would force them out of business.  President Obama, who said that he supported the bill in the fall and would push for it once he took office, did very little to push the lawmakers once the House had passed it.

Over 1 million consumer bankruptcies filed in 2008

For the first time since the bankruptcy laws changed in October of 2005, the number of new consumer bankruptcy cases crossed over the million mark.  A total of 1,074,225 cases were filed last year, compared to 822,590 filed in 2007.  The last time the new filings exceeded 1 million was in 2005, when the numbers actually exceeded 2 million due to the mad rush prior to the changes in the bankruptcy laws on October 17th 2005.  

In Georgia, the total number of consumer bankruptcies for 2008 totaled 59,287, of which 38,374 were filed in the Northern District of Georgia which includes all of Metro Atlanta, Rome, Gainesville and Newnan.   

Brian Limbocker

Limbocker Law Firm, LLC
2470 Windy Hill Road SE Suite 300
Marietta, GA 30067

Phone: 770-933-5355 

http://www.limbockerlawfirm.com/

New "Means Test" figures for any bankruptcy case filed on or after March 15th, 2009.

The U.S. Trustee's office submitted new means test figures for cases filed on or after March 15th of this year.  You can visit the U.S. Trustees website here. The median income for Georgia is as follows:

STATE        1 EARNER        2 PEOPLE        3 PEOPLE        4 PEOPLE*

Georgia        $40,760            $54,054          $61,959            $71,554

* Add $6,900 for each individual in excess of 4.

The old figures for cases filed prior to March 15th looked like this:

STATE        1 EARNER        2 PEOPLE        3 PEOPLE        4 PEOPLE*

Georgia        $39,523          $52,055           $59,668            $68,908

*  Add $6,900 for each individual in excess of 4.

As you can tell, the median income level in Georgia has gone up and thus it becomes a little easier for individuals to file for a chapter 7.  For example, the new figures for a family of four increase the median income by $2,646.  It is kind of surprising that figure of $6,900 for each individual in excess of four was not increased.