The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to propose rules that may diminish the longstanding importance of credit ratings across various markets, including the $3.4 trillion money-market industry, in the latest blow to the rating business stemming from the credit crunch, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The most significant portion of the rules, to [...]

The Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear an appeal by W.R. Grace in a criminal case brought by the government over the company’s alleged release of asbestos from a Montana mine, the Associated Press reported. Federal prosecutors charged the company and six executives in February 2005 with violating the Clean Air Act by releasing asbestos [...]

H.R. 4044, a bill that would exempt military reservists called to active duty and certain others from application of the means test in chapter 7, passed the House of Representatives yesterday passed by a voice vote, the Assoicated Press reported. The legislation exempts Guard members and reservists who have served at least 90 days on [...]

A federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., indicted two former Bear Stearns Cos. Hedge fund managers, alleging that they misled investors when their fund was in peril, lied about their financial interest in the portfolios and destroyed evidence in the investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The high-profile criminal case, along with a parallel [...]

The Justice Department announced yesterday that 406 people had been indicted since March on charges of mortgage fraud involving the sale of individual properties, including about 60 who were arrested on Wednesday, the New York Times reported today. The sweep, called Operation Malicious Mortgage, focused primarily on three types of crime: lending fraud, foreclosure rescue [...]

While there has been a 40 percent increase in filings over the past year, law firms that have been preparing for the next wave of corporate bankruptcies for the past two years are starting to think that the surge may be more of a swell than a tsunami, the National Law Journal reported yesterday. Loan [...]

The House Financial Services Committee announced today that it will hold a series of hearings starting in July to examine restructuring the financial regulatory system to better adapt to changes in the financial markets, according to a committee press release. Chief among the committee’s concerns are the dramatic growth in the share of assets held [...]

A “secured creditor” is one that has a lien on property such as a home or car. A lien is an interest in property that a creditor can use to satisfy a debt. Liens can be voluntary (mortgage or auto loan) or involuntary (a lien on property resulting from unpaid taxes or a [...]

Chapter 7: State exemptions are available in the form of wearing apparel, retirement accounts, tools of trade, household goods, and an automobile with limited equity. The thinking behind these exemptions is to ensure that debtors in a bankruptcy are able to file without giving up the essentials of living. In addition, there [...]

Check out the latest Squidoo page about Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. The page contains a link to David Siegel’s appearance on FoxNews talking about Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. There is a special emphasis on saving a home through Chpater 13 bankruptcy. “It’s always better to save a home if you can”, [...]