News
Soaring Bankruptcies in the Farm Belt Force Banks to Boost Defenses
Banks that serve U.S. farmers are increasingly restructuring existing loans and boosting the collateral needed for new ones as the numbers of late and missed payments have risen, Bloomberg News reported. While regional banks are healthy, they’re clearly boosting their defenses against the risks they face. In March, a report by First Midwest Bank in Chicago showed past-due agricultural loans up 287 percent in 2018 over the previous year. Meanwhile, cases handled by the Iowa Mediation Service involving farmers unable to make payments rose 20 percent. While regional banks are healthy, they’re clearly boosting their defenses against the risks they…
Credit and Collection E-newsletter of 4/29/19 Reports
Red flags are flying in the credit-card industry after a key gauge of bad debt jumped to the highest level in almost seven years. The charge-off rate—the percentage of loans companies have decided they’ll never collect—rose to 3.82 percent in the first three months of 2019, the highest since the second quarter of 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. And loans 30 days past due, a harbinger of future write-offs, increased at all seven of the largest U.S. card issuers. At Discover Financial Services, which reported results on Thursday, the charge-off rate increased to 3.5 percent from 3.23…
American Bankruptcy Institute reports that Malls are Under Pressure as More Stores Close
Strong retail numbers last year from department stores Macy’s Inc. and Nordstrom Inc. raised hopes that the beleaguered mall industry would finally rebound. But recent developments this year are pointing to more trouble ahead, the Wall Street Journal reported. A number of struggling retailers are closing stores and being more selective about where to open ones, dimming prospects for many mall owners and investors. U.S. retailers have already closed 5,994 stores so far this year, compared with 5,864 closures for all of last year, according to Coresight Research. The net store closings, or the number of closings minus openings this…
Bankrupt Student Loan Borrowers Could Finally Get a Break
American Bankruptcy Institute 4/15/19 e-newsletter reports that it is possible that Bankrupt Student Loan Borrowers Could Finally Get a Break, if congress were to accept the recommendations of the recent Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy report, and make amendments to the Bankruptcy Code, to make it easier to seek to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy. Getting out from under crushing student loan debt might become a little easier if new proposed changes in bankruptcy rules take hold, MarketWatch.com reported. The proposed changes are part of a wide-ranging report by prominent members of the bankruptcy community, including former judges, academics and…
Sens. Grassley and Klobuchar Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Help Family Farms Reorganize
U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) reintroduced bipartisan legislation to help family farms reorganize after falling on hard times, according to a press release from Sen. Smith’s office. The legislation is also cosponsored by Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). As bankruptcy rates among American farmers near record highs, the Family Farmer Relief Act of 2019 would raise the chapter 12 operating debt cap to $10 million, allowing more family farmers to seek relief under the program. Several years of low commodity prices,…
Car Loan Delinquencies Surge To Highest Point Since 2010
Car Loan Delinquencies Surge To Highest Point Since 2010, reports Credit & Collection e-newsletter of 2/27/19 Borrowers are behind in their auto loan payments in numbers not seen since delinquencies peaked at the end of 2010, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. More than 7 million Americans were 90 or more days behind on their car loans at the end of last year, 1 million more than eight years ago, according to a report from the bank. That’s a potential sign of trouble for the auto industry and perhaps the broader economy. The New York Fed reported…
The US Government Consumer Financial Protection Bureau May Scrap Underwriting Requirements For Payday Loans
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may scrap some underwriting requirements for payday loans, which would make it easier for payday lenders to provide the loans and easier for some borrowers to procure them. The underwriting requirements in question are part of the CFPB’s payday lending rule, which the bureau spent five years working on and which the last director and the current one, Mick Mulvaney and Kathy Kraninger respectively, seek to backtrack. This part of the rule requires payday lenders to underwrite loans for borrowers who obtain more than six payday loans in a year. Lenders must verify the…
New California Debt Collection Laws Take Effect Jan. 1, 2019
Three new CA state laws take effect on 1/1/2019, and these laws all favor debtors, and disfavor debt collectors. The three bills are A.B. 1526, which amends sections 1788.14 and 337 of the California civil code adding requirements for time-barred debts; A.B. 38, which clarifies the definition of a “student loan servicer”; and A.B. 1974, which provides parameters for collecting debts owed to public schools, ACA International’s Compliance Analyst Laura Dadd reports. Just like several other states, the amendments to sections 1788.14 and 337 of the California civil code will require debt collectors to provide consumers with a notice that…
Judge Tells Government Debt Collectors They Can’t Collect From A Broke 58-Year-Old Woman
In 1991, Vicky Jo Metz borrowed $16,613 to pay for tuition; now she’s 59, and has paid back 90% of that money – and she still owes $67,277. Metz is broke and has filed for bankruptcy. But thanks to a law signed by Bill Clinton, it’s almost impossible to discharge your student debt through bankruptcy. That’s why the US government sent their most notorious knuckle-breaking debt-collectors, the Educational Credit Management Corporation to argue against Metz’s debt being forgiven. ECMC had a counteroffer: Metz could pay $203 per month for 25 years – until she was 84 years old – and…
9th Circuit Upholds Record $1.27 Billion Judgement Against Payday Lender
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. AMG CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC; BLACK CREEK CAPITAL CORPORATION; BROADMOOR CAPITAL PARTNERS, LLC; LEVEL 5 MOTORSPORTS, LLC; SCOTT A. TUCKER; PARK 269 LLC; KIM C. TUCKER, Defendants-Appellants, Ninth Circuit Court of appeals decision on December 3, 2018, case number No. 16-17197 The Ninth Circuit recently upheld a $1.27 billion award against a former professional racecar driver’s loan companies, finding that the companies had violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by deceiving consumers and illegally charging them undisclosed and inflated fees. The $1.27 billion judgement represents the largest litigated judgement ever obtained by the FTC. The…