Congress nears vote on bankruptcy reform, AP 14 Apr 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress neared a final vote Thursday on legislation that would force tens of thousands of people who want to wipe out their debts in bankruptcy court to work out repayment plans instead. The biggest rewrite of the bankruptcy code in a quarter-century would be the second major change in law to benefit business since Republicans increased their House and Senate majorities in last fall's elections. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BANKRUPTCY?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Bracing for the bankruptcy bill, CNN Money, 14 Apr 2005 "A bankruptcy reform bill, already passed by Senate and up for debate and likely passage in the House on Thursday, is expected to become law, making filing for bankruptcy more difficult. And it will give creditors more recourse in some instances. Under current law, the majority of consumers who file for bankruptcy do so either under Chapter 7 or under Chapter 13. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your assets (minus those exempted by your state) are liquidated and given to creditors, and many of your remaining debts are cancelled, giving you what's known as a "fresh start." In 2004, over 1.1 million people filed for Chapter 7, accounting for roughly 72 percent of non-business bankruptcies. Since many Chapter 7 filers don't have assets that qualify for liquidation, credit card companies and other creditors sometimes get nothing. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you're put on a repayment plan of up to five years. Any debts not addressed by the repayment plan don't have to be paid. Last year, there were 445,574 Chapter 13 filings. If the bill passes into law, fewer people will be allowed to file under Chapter 7; more will be forced to file under Chapter 13. Lawmakers who favor the legislation argue that it would prevent consumers from abusing the bankruptcy laws â?? using them to clear debts that they can afford to pay. But consumer advocates argue that the bill is a gift to creditors â?? particularly the credit card industry, which may receive $1 billion or more from repayment plans due to the expected increase in Chapter 13 filings, according to Robert McKinley, CEO of CardWeb.com. "The bill simply doesn't balance" http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/13/pf/bankruptcy_bill/index.htm Bankruptcy fees could skyrocket http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/12/pf/bankruptcy_fees/index.htm
while congress and the corpoate media have been using smoke screens and red herrings to take the publics eye off the ball (decency laws, schiavo case, michael jackson), they are pushing thru a law that will hurt the middle class most bks occur as a result of job loss and medical emergencies now credit card agencies will get their pound of flesh no matter what
