Last April, President Bush enthusiastically signed into law the oddly-named Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act. This bill, representing the biggest overhaul of bankruptcy law in twenty-five years, was written in order to discourage “bankruptcy of convenience.” Proponents of the bill, which included the credit card industry, say that the bill is necessary in order to stop an avalanche of bankruptcy filings by drug users and compulsive shoppers and gamblers. The law makes it harder to have debts wiped away, requires credit counseling for those considering bankruptcy, and holds attorneys responsible for paperwork errors by their clients in bankruptcy cases. The net result will probably be chaos, as fewer attorneys will handle bankruptcy cases, credit counselors will raise their fees, and more consumers with problem debt will be clueless as to what they should do next. Adding to the confusion are some new statistics that suggest that a large number of bankruptcies that are thought to be personal are actually business bankruptcies. As a result, the new law may be unfairly targeting consumers for punishment when they are not actually the biggest part of the problem. Worse, it could be harming small businesses.
Studies suggest that the number of business bankruptcies may actually be up to ten times higher than previously reported. Many small businesses that fail and file for bankruptcy do so under guidelines that technically classify them as personal bankruptcies. The new law doesn’t account for this, however, and treats such bankruptcy filers no differently than those who file because they can’t stop shopping. It benefits no one to force a small store owner to undergo mandatory credit counseling when their business may have failed due to other reasons, such as having a big-box retailer more in next door. Even if that is the case, the law will require the bankrupt business owner to attend counseling in order to learn about managing personal and household budgets. This wastes the time of both the business owner and the credit-counseling agency and denies valuable counseling resources to those people who may really need it.
In time, Congress may amend this legislation if certain aspects of it do not work as intended. In the meantime, small business owners and those with personal debt problems will be inconvenienced, credit counseling agencies will be overworked, and no one will be any better off for it.
Home Loans – Identity Theft Protection Could Hurt Home Sales
Identity theft has been a hot topic in the news during the last few years. Just a month or so ago, forty million credit card numbers were compromised due to a computer attack on a credit card processor. Consumers are rightly concerned, as it can take years to unravel the problems created when someone’s identity is stolen. New legislation in Texas and California, also proposed elsewhere, is designed to protect consumers by letting them put a “freeze” on their credit reports. Those in the real estate industry are worried, however, that doing so may make it difficult for some people to buy homes.
Debt Consolidation – How to Protect Your Credit Accounts from Theft
Last week, a security exploit at CardSystems Solutions, Inc, a credit card processor, may have allowed thieves to obtain as many as 40 million credit card numbers from unsuspecting victims. The theft was brought about though a virus introduced into the CardSystems that allowed external hackers to obtain access to the account information. Adding to the problem was the fact that CardSystems wasn’t supposed to have the account information at all. It appears that CardSystems “inappropriately” held onto the information after clearing the credit card transactions. At that point, the account information should have been deleted. CardSystems held onto the account information for supposed “research purposes.” Fortunately for those involved, the compromised information only included account numbers and not Social Security numbers, which would have assisted the thieves in identity theft scams. This latest security breach at a credit card processor outlines how anyone can be vulnerable to account or even identity theft. Is there anything that can be done about it?
Website Promotion – Where to Get Ideas for Writing Articles
Some six weeks ago, I began writing and submitting articles to free content sites in order to promote the six commercial Websites I own. The results have been both swift and dramatic, and the number of links from external Websites to my own Websites has increased from nearly nothing to more than 10,000 in a little more than a month. These results have inspired me to write more articles, and as I own six different Websites, I have six different topics to choose from. Still, my ideas occasionally run dry and that certainly happens to others who write articles for their own Websites. Writing and submitting articles on a regular basis does a lot for promoting your Websites, but where can you find more ideas for articles when you run out?
