Bankruptcy Reform

On April 20, 2005, President Bush signed The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. The bill represents the most sweeping re-write of U.S. bankruptcy laws in a quarter-century. Credit card companies and banks have been pushing for the new laws for the past eight years and have spent over $250 million in lobbying efforts. The new bill will make it much more difficult and expensive to erase obligations in bankruptcy.

The new laws were literally written by the credit-card industry and fail to restrain aggressive marketing and high rates charged by credit card issuers. Credit card companies will be permitted to continue business as usual; i.e., entice vulnerable customers to extend their balances, then nail them in the fine print. The new bankruptcy laws are expected to be especially hard on low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly, and will remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face mounting medical bills.

NO INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS INTENDED TO CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE, AND IS NOT APPLICABLE TO ANY SPECIFIC SET OF FACTS, ESPECIALLY AS TO ANY INDIVIDUAL’S PERSONAL SITUATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN NOR THE PERUSAL OF IT DOES NOT ESTABLISH NOR CONSTITUTE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP WITH HUNTSMAN LOFGREN & ASSOC. OR ANY OF ITS ATTORNEYS. THE INFORMATION SET FORTH ABOVE IS BASED ON NEW BANKRUPTCY LAWS WHICH BECAME EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 17, 2005 KNOWN AS THE BANKRUPTCY ABUSE PREVENTION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 2005 (BAPCPA). BECAUSE OF THE COMPLEXITY OF THE NEW LAWS, PLEASE REFER TO THE ACTUAL BANKRUPTCY CODE AND RULES AND/OR CONSULT WITH A BANKRUPTCY PROFESSIONAL TO EVALUATE THE APPLICATION OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION TO YOUR SPECIFIC SITUATION.