The Central Bank has announced a pilot scheme for the restructuring of secured and unsecured distressed consumer debt across multiple lenders. The scheme aims to prevent borrowers entering the insolvency process by agreeing debt solutions with various lenders.

The scheme will not apply to business debt, debt involving buy-to-let properties or debts where the borrower is deemed to be “non-co-operating” under the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears.

The Law Reform Commission (LRC) launched its Report on Personal Debt Management and Debt Enforcement, on 16 December 2010, at its Annual Conference. The Report makes 200 recommendations for reform, and also contains a draft Personal Insolvency Bill. Reform of personal debt law must be introduced next year to comply with the Government's agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

A leading South Yorkshire insolvency expert has warned of a risk of a rise in corporate insolvencies in the new year.  

The Government Insolvency Service third quarter figures show a slight decline in all forms of corporate insolvency and a big decline in the number of administrations (down 35 per cent on this time last year and 19 per cent down from the previous quarter).  

With the economy in poor shape and personal debt still at high levels, the outlook is less than rosy for people who are facing insolvency. Even after the changes made by the Enterprise Act 2002, bankruptcy is still a difficult experience. This is especially true where the family home is the main asset of the bankrupt’s estate.

The trustee in bankruptcy will normally seek a possession order over the property so that it can be sold to satisfy the claims of creditors.

When deciding whether the possession order is to be granted, the court is obliged to consider:

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a bill amending the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the California Code of Civil Procedure. The new law, which takes effect January 1, requires disclosures in any communication by a debt collector attempting to collect a time-barred debt. Because the RFDCPA defines the term "debt collector" to include first-party creditors in addition to third-party creditors, auto dealers and finance companies should pay attention.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that a bank’s lawsuit against the husband of a debtor who had filed for bankruptcy did not violate the co-debtor stay because the husband’s credit card debts were not a consumer debt for which the debtor was personally liable.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently held that “[a]n accurate and complete proof of claim on a time-barred debt is not false, deceptive, misleading, unfair, or unconscionable under the FDCPA.”

In arriving at this holding, the Court declined to follow the Eleventh Circuit’s rulings in Crawford and Johnson.

A copy of the opinion is available at:  Link to Opinion.

One of the more appealing aspects of the U.S. bankruptcy process is the relative ease in which parties in interest may file proofs of claim. In years passed all it took was to mail in a simple form to the bankruptcy court or claims agent and now it is even easier with the advent of email and electronic claims uploading. This relatively easy process, however, often comes with a plethora of invalid or unenforceable proofs of claim.

Almost five years after the enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act, the Supreme Court recently ruled in Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, P.A., et al v. United States that attorneys are “debt relief agencies” who are limited in their ability to provide pre-bankruptcy planning advice to consumers and obligating them to provide additional disclosures in their advertisements.

Attorneys Are Debt Relief Agencies Under BAPCPA

Today the Federal Trade Commission announced a new rule directed specifically at regulating the debt relief industry. Initially proposed eleven months ago, the new rule implements a vast set of requirements and prohibitions, including an absolute ban on charging any fees to consumers before settlements are reached with creditors.