A colleague of mine has passed on a letter one of his client's received from an alleged collection agency called "First Start Group". The letter includes the following: "WE ARE REQUIRED BYLAW TO GIVE YOU THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DEBT. The legal time limit...
Year: 2014
New Rules On New York State Default Judgments Imminent: Major Changes for Credit Card Accounts Sold to Debt Buyers
The New York State Court of Appeals has finalized rules requiring buyers of credit card debt to prove they own the accounts, and has added additional notice requirements for consumer credit lawsuits. The court clerk will be mailing a notice of a consumer credit...
Interest rate on Rochester Chapter 13 Cases with unexempt assets is now “Till” rate
When he establishes a principle of law he intends to follow in future cases he prefers to spread the word informally. One such 'edict' (the judge's own word) was issued August 18, 2014, on the issue of the appropriate interest rate to be paid to creditors when the...
Bankruptcy Filing Fees Raised June 1, 2014
The cost of filing bankruptcy has gone up again. Effective June 1, 2014, the cost of filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy case rose from $306 to $335, and the chapter 13 fee goes from $281 to $310. Bankruptcy filing fees are split among various parties within the bankruptcy...
Married Debtor Only Owns Half of Homestead Equity: In re Bradigan (Judge Bucki)
A Buffalo Bankruptcy Trustee's argument that each of the joint married owners of their home owns the entire equity in the property. Judge Carl L. Bucki, Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York rejected this argument in In...
Debtor Education Agencies May Now File Completion Confirmation Directly With the Court
After filing a bankruptcy, a debtor is obligated to take a debtor education course. Only organizations that are approved by the Office of the United States Trustee is authorized to offer this course. Under a new change in Rule 1007(b)(7) of the Federal Rules Rules of...
Overpayment of a Government Tuition Grant is Not Discharged in Bankruptcy
We know that bankruptcy code Sect 513(a)(8) does not allow a bankruptcy debtor to receive a discharge of student loans.I have previously written about the definition of private student loans in bankruptcy and about the Supreme Court case related to discharging student...