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How should you handle your creditors if you experience an unexpected drop in income, a layoff or loss of that part time job that was keeping you afloat?In March, 2020, the economy in Georgia and throughout the United States took a huge hit with the spread of the COVID-19 corona virus. Over the course of a week, the narrative from Washington changed from “we have this under control” to “do not leave your home.” Professional sports leagues have shut down, restaurants have discontinued in location seating, airlines have parked airplanes and just about every type of business was and is being affected.No doubt you are feeling the pinch. Relief from the government – if it comes at all – will be short term and incomplete.Meanwhile, creditors may hold off pursuing collection for a short time, but you should assume that they will not be so quick to forgive late payments and defaults once the immediate crisis passes.While the unprecedented speed of the corona virus damage to our economy is, hopefully, a rare event, unexpected job losses or reductions in income are not so rare. No matter what the circumstances you need a plan to deal with your creditors. How do you handle the phone calls? Who do you pay first? When is it time to give up collateral? When might bankruptcy be an option?The key to surviving this, or any unexpected disruption in income, will be knowledge and communication. First, you need to find out if your creditors have any programs to help you weather emergencies. In the case of financial hardship due to the corona virus, you should check the web sites of creditors to see if they are offering deferments or other relief. Even if there is nothing on the web site, you can call to ask.It is always better to ask about a deferment or other relief while you are still current. If the creditor representative indicates that you will be expected to make payments as usual, you can make the decision about what to do. In the case of a “buy here, pay here” vehicle lender, for example, you may choose to keep that debt current to avoid a repossession.I would also advise you that credit card debts should be at the bottom of your list. Credit card creditors cannot use “self help” to take you property and the only course of action they have other than collection calls would be to sue you. If the courts are shut down, lawsuits are going to be delayed and judges are likely to be unsympathetic to a credit card company who sues an individual during the Covid 19 crisis.You may be surprised to learn that we usually do not recommend the bankruptcy option while your financial situation is unsettled. Bankruptcy works best when you can see with a high degree of certainty what you will be facing financially in the next six to twelve months. The bankruptcy law also uses a 6 month look back to evaluate your level of “disposable income” and your reality 6 months ago may be very different than it is currently.At Ginsberg Law Offices, we have been working with and counseling honest, hardworking men and women in the Atlanta area about financial problems for over 25 years. We are standing by to answer your questions and help restore your peace of mind.The post How Should You Deal With Creditors If You Lose Income Due to the Corona Virus? appeared first on theBKBlog.
How should you handle your creditors if you experience an unexpected drop in income, a layoff or loss of that part time job that was keeping you afloat?In March, 2020, the economy in Georgia and throughout the United States took a huge hit with the spread of the COVID-19 corona virus. Over the course of a week, the narrative from Washington changed from “we have this under control” to “do not leave your home.” Professional sports leagues have shut down, restaurants have discontinued in location seating, airlines have parked airplanes and just about every type of business was and is being affected.No doubt you are feeling the pinch. Relief from the government – if it comes at all – will be short term and incomplete.Meanwhile, creditors may hold off pursuing collection for a short time, but you should assume that they will not be so quick to forgive late payments and defaults once the immediate crisis passes.While the unprecedented speed of the corona virus damage to our economy is, hopefully, a rare event, unexpected job losses or reductions in income are not so rare. No matter what the circumstances you need a plan to deal with your creditors. How do you handle the phone calls? Who do you pay first? When is it time to give up collateral? When might bankruptcy be an option?The key to surviving this, or any unexpected disruption in income, will be knowledge and communication. First, you need to find out if your creditors have any programs to help you weather emergencies. In the case of financial hardship due to the corona virus, you should check the web sites of creditors to see if they are offering deferments or other relief. Even if there is nothing on the web site, you can call to ask.It is always better to ask about a deferment or other relief while you are still current. If the creditor representative indicates that you will be expected to make payments as usual, you can make the decision about what to do. In the case of a “buy here, pay here” vehicle lender, for example, you may choose to keep that debt current to avoid a repossession.I would also advise you that credit card debts should be at the bottom of your list. Credit card creditors cannot use “self help” to take you property and the only course of action they have other than collection calls would be to sue you. If the courts are shut down, lawsuits are going to be delayed and judges are likely to be unsympathetic to a credit card company who sues an individual during the Covid 19 crisis.You may be surprised to learn that we usually do not recommend the bankruptcy option while your financial situation is unsettled. Bankruptcy works best when you can see with a high degree of certainty what you will be facing financially in the next six to twelve months. The bankruptcy law also uses a 6 month look back to evaluate your level of “disposable income” and your reality 6 months ago may be very different than it is currently.At Ginsberg Law Offices, we have been working with and counseling honest, hardworking men and women in the Atlanta area about financial problems for over 25 years. We are standing by to answer your questions and help restore your peace of mind.The post How Should You Deal With Creditors If You Lose Income Due to the Corona Virus? appeared first on theBKBlog.
From: NY Post
By: Rosemary Misdary, David Meyer and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
Coronavirus has slammed the brakes on the Big Apple taxi industry.
New York City cabbies are suffering a radical drop in ridership amid concerns over the potentially deadly bug, with some only scraping together a few bucks after long shifts behind the wheel.
“We don’t make money,” said Queens cabbie Jones Donkoi while trying to land fares on the Upper West Side. “I collected $300 in fares but if you take the taxes and surcharges and lease payment, I make about $40 at the end of a 12-hour shift.”
“I support three children,” he said. “I’m going to find another job because I can’t continue like this. I can’t buy anything.”
Driver Mohammad Azad said it’s so bad out there that he had just $10 in his pocket after his first three hours on the road on Sunday.
“Our pockets are empty,” said Azad, who was near Spring Street in SoHo Sunday. “If it continues like this, it will be very hard to survive in New York City. All taxi drivers are miserable. Am I scared? Yes. But we take the risks.”
Another driver said he took home just $50 one day last week, and at one point drove around two hours without a single fare.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said the cabbie, who would only identify himself as Patrick. “I am driving around hoping to get a passenger and there are none. They are too scared.”
One cabbie said his family has had to cut down on food spending and even stopped buying laundry detergent to try to get by.
Taxi garages throughout the city told The Post that business has dropped by 30–50 percent as fewer tourists hit the city and more locals stay indoors to avoid contact with the COVID-19 virus.
And cabbies are feeling the squeeze.
“It’s really dire out there,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. “Trips dry up after evening hours and with significant loss of airport trips, only small fares remain.”
A chunk of the fares they collect go toward paying off their pricey taxi medallions or, in some cases, the weekly lease payments to garages that rent them their cabs.
“Tomorrow I will ask if my garage can lower the rate to rent the cabs,” said Brooklyn cabbie Abdallah Abdujabar. “Every week I pay $600 plus gas, EZ Pass. It adds up to $800, $900.”
Then there are fees that come out of the fares, including a $2.50 state congestion surcharge and a 30-cent city surcharge.
According to taxi garage owners and dispatchers, the crunch is having a ripple effect on the industry.
Garages that rent out the cabs rely on the drivers’ lease payments to pay off their medallions, and without that money coming, some owners said they risk defaulting on bank loans they took out to make their medallion payments.
“My drivers work a 12-hour shift and they’re not even making the money to pay the lease on the car,” said Mahbub Hassan, a dispatcher at Yellow Cab Crescent Management in Long Island City. “In four hours, they’re lucky to get three rides.”
“We have 268 cabs in our fleet, and 100 of those cars are just sitting there without drivers,” Hassan said. “We have been giving our drivers $200, $300 discounts on the lease, and drivers are still not making enough to cover the lease payment.”
Added a manager at Midtown Operating Corp: “At the end of the day, we are all in the same boat along with the rest of the city. My pockets are not that deep.”
Meanwhile, drivers said they also have to live with the fear that they’re exposing themselves to the virus while trying to make a living.
“They give me three hand sanitizers per shift,” driver Muhammad Boote, a cabbie for 12 years, said of his bosses at Queens Medallion Leasing in Long Island City. “I’ve almost run out. I need to ask for more.”
Additional reporting by Anabel Sosa and Khristina Narizhnaya
From: forbes.com
By: Adam S. Minsky
Yesterday, President Trump announced that he would be freezing student loan interest as part of his national emergency declaration regarding the Coronavirus outbreak. But with few details provided during his public announcement, student loan borrowers have been wondering what exactly this means for them.
Here’s what President Trump’s student loan interest rate freeze would do:
- Interest accrual on certain federal student loans will be frozen. This means that no further interest will accrue on certain federal student loans going forward.
- The student loan interest freeze will only apply to student loans “held by federal government agencies,” such as the U.S. Department of Education and its contracted student loan servicers.
- The student loan interest freeze is temporary, but will continue indefinitely until the policy is changed.
- The student loan interest freeze will be implemented automatically, likely in the coming week (although the exact timing is unclear).
While some applauded the President’s decision, there is much that the national emergency declaration does not do:
- Private student loans are not covered by the interest freeze, since these loans are not held by U.S. federal government agencies.
- Certain federally-guaranteed student loans — such as federal Perkins loans and FFEL-program loans — may not be subject to the interest freeze if they are not held by a federal government agency (which is the case for many of these loans).
- Borrowers must continue to pay their normal monthly payments on all student loans. Your monthly payment amount will not change, nor will your payments be suspended. To be absolutely clear: the President’s declaration does not include any student loan payment relief at all, whatsoever.
- For student loan borrowers who have already accrued significant uncapitalized interest (such as for borrowers on income-driven repayment plans), all outstanding interest will still have to be paid off first, before any payment will be applied to principal. This is required under federal regulations and the underlying federal student loan promissory notes, and President Trump’s declaration does not alter these terms.
- For student loan borrowers in default, so-called “forced collections” will continue. That means student loan borrowers will still be subject to administrative wage garnishment, offset of Social Security payments, and involuntary seizure of federal and state tax refunds.
Ultimately, while President Trump’s interest rate freeze will pause balance growth (or, in some cases, temporarily reduce the cost of repayment), student loan borrowers who are struggling with lost income or wages due to the Coronavirus outbreak do not receive any direct student loan relief from the national emergency declaration.
This is an evolving situation, so stay tuned.
Virus update–March trustee hearings cancelled. No rescheduling plan has been announced yet. (Will there be a call-in plan instead??) The Judges here in the Alexandria VA bankruptcy court have invited the lawyers to a conference call on Wednesday. We may know more after that. This announcement applies only to the trustee hearings. Those are the […]
The post Virus update–March trustee hearings cancelled by Robert Weed appeared first on Robert Weed - AE.
Virus update–March trustee hearings cancelled. No rescheduling plan has been announced yet. (Will there be a call-in plan instead??) The Judges here in the Alexandria VA bankruptcy court have invited the lawyers to a conference call on Wednesday. We may know more after that. This announcement applies only to the trustee hearings. Those are the […]
The post Virus update–March trustee hearings cancelled by Robert Weed appeared first on Northern VA Bankruptcy Lawyer Robert Weed - .
Virus update–March trustee hearings cancelled. No rescheduling plan has been announced yet. (Will there be a call-in plan instead??) The Judges here in the Alexandria VA bankruptcy court have invited the lawyers to a conference call on Wednesday. We may know more after that. This announcement applies only to the trustee hearings. Those are the […]
The post Virus update–March trustee hearings cancelled by Robert Weed appeared first on Robert Weed - .
From: CNN Politics
By: Eric Bradner and Arlette Saenz, CNN
Sat March 14, 2020
(CNN) Former Vice President Joe Biden says he now backs Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's bankruptcy plan, endorsing his former Democratic rival's proposal to repeal portions of a law they had clashed over 15 years earlier.
Biden touted his support for Warren's plan as an olive branch to supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a virtual town hall for Illinois voters Friday night, calling it "one of the things that I think Bernie and I will agree on." He highlighted a portion of Warren's plan that would allow student loan debt to be eliminated in bankruptcy just like other debts. "I'm going to endorse -- I've endorsed -- Elizabeth Warren's bankruptcy proposal, which in fact goes further, allows for student debt to be relieved in bankruptcy, provides for a whole range of other issues that allows us to in fact impact on how people are dealing with their circumstances," Biden said. "So there's a whole range of things we agree on."
Biden's move to back Warren's plan shows that, as he moves toward clinching the Democratic presidential nomination and seeks to soothe over tensions from a year-long intra-party battle, the former vice president is taking steps to embrace his former rivals and adopt planks of their platforms -- and is willing to move left to do so. Warren's team got a heads-up from the Biden camp that he would be endorsing the senator's bankruptcy plan ahead of his public announcement on Friday, a Warren aide told CNN's MJ Lee. The two teams were in touch leading up to the announcement, the aide said. A Biden campaign aide said he would likely say more about his support for Warren's bankruptcy plan in his debate against Sanders on Sunday night. Biden and Warren's high-profile battle over a 2005 bill that made it more difficult to declare bankruptcy, when he was a Delaware senator and leading advocate of the measure and she was a Harvard professor and vocal opponent, played a key role in inspiring Warren's move into politics. As a presidential candidate, she used it to highlight her differences with Biden. On the day in April 2019 that Biden entered the race, she said at a rally that Biden had been "on the side of the credit companies." The law, which was heavily backed by the banking and credit card industries, made it harder for Americans to get out of debt by filing for bankruptcy. Supporters of the measure said it would prevent financially irresponsible people from abusing the system, while opponents denounced it, saying it would hurt struggling people by increasing the regulation, documentation and costs of seeking bankruptcy protection. Bankruptcies plummeted after the law took effect, but not for the right reasons, consumer advocates argued. Biden was seen as a leading proponent of the bill at the time, though it was largely backed by Republicans and passed by a GOP-controlled Congress. Biden's campaign has argued he successfully fought for changes to the bill that prioritized child support and alimony in front of lenders and required credit card companies to warn borrowers about their interest rates. The Warren plan targets a series of provisions that she has criticized for years, arguing that they benefit credit card companies and big lenders at the expense of Americans struggling with consumer, household and student debt. Warren's proposal would make the bankruptcy system "simple, cheap, fast, and flexible," she wrote in a Medium post when she unveiled it in January. It would merge the two types of consumer bankruptcy filings -- Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 -- into one, offering filers a "menu of options" for dealing with their unpaid debt. It would eliminate what she termed "burdensome paperwork" that makes bankruptcy more expensive, deterring some from filing. It would reverse the 2005 law's requirement that filers seek pre-filing credit counseling, as well as the additional rules it placed on consumer bankruptcy attorneys. She would also reduce the cost of filing and make it easier for people to keep their homes and cars during bankruptcy. The proposal would make it harder for the wealthy to shield assets in trusts and would crack down on companies that violate consumer financial protection laws while trying to collect on debts. And her proposal would end the ban on shedding student loan debt in bankruptcy. CNN's Gregory Krieg and Tami Luhby contributed to this report.
NYC Cap on Ride-Hail Vehicles Made Permanent from Courthouse News Service
MANHATTAN (CN) – The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission voted Tuesday to permanently freeze the number of Ubers, Lyfts and other ride-hailing vehicles that drive here.
A one-year cap on such vehicles was set to expire next week. It was first instituted last August after a 39-6 City Council vote.
Taxicabs speed down Broadway near the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 42nd street in New York’s Times Square on May 5, 2005. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
From 12,600 in 2015 to more than 80,000 last year, the number of Uber, Lyft, Via and similar vehicles on the city’s streets has exploded in recent years, according to Taxi and Limousine Commission reported by Bloomberg. More cars mean more of them drive around empty, increasing congestion and emissions.
In addition to the vehicle cap, the commission voted Wednesday to reduce the amount of time drivers can spend looking for riders below 60th street in Manhattan. That allotted downtown time will drop to 31% by August 2020, down from its current level of 41%.
Uber challenged the cap in court earlier this year, claiming it relied on bogus traffic data. The ride-hailing service said the cap was anti-competitive and “will have a disproportionate impact on residents outside of Manhattan who have long been underserved by yellow taxis and mass transit” in the outer-borough areas where most Uber trips occur.
New Yorkers are split on the issue, with some saying the city should instead address other causes of its traffic-congestion crisis, such as by implementing congestion pricing in Midtown Manhattan. The city’s residents are also widely frustrated with the crumbling subway system, which sometimes forces people to find alternate methods of transportation, with the history of race discrimination among yellow cabs, and with the trend of sporadic taxi service in the outer-boroughs.
Community groups in the city have fought against the cap, saying it stifles drivers’ abilities to buy rather than lease the cars they use.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a contender in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, weighed in on the decision Wednesday.
“For far too long, ride-share apps took advantage of their drivers,” de Blasio said in a statement. “Their wages plummeted and families struggled to put food on their tables. We stood up and said no more. We will not let big corporations walk all over hardworking New Yorkers and choke our streets with congestion. Our caps have resulted in increased wages and families finally have some relief.”
Arthur Goldstein, a former attorney for the Taxicab Service Association, called the cap long overdue.
“The ride-hailing cap will help to reduce congestion on our streets, but does not adequately address the consequences of nearly a decade of government inaction,” Goldstein, who is with the firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, said in an email. “When Uber, Lyft and other app-based companies began flooding the streets with cars, many yellow cab owners who have invested in taxi medallions were deprived of an opportunity to earn a return on their investment. These largely immigrant entrepreneurs who invested in taxi medallions are still suffering. Uber and Lyft continue to operate relatively free from regulations applied to their regulated yellow cab competitors and, with ten of thousands of ride-hailing vehicles remaining on the street, the problem persists.”
Below is a letter written by a 64-year old bankruptcy attorney to the United States Trustee, the agency that oversees bankruptcy cases.
Clifford J. White III, Director
Executive Office for U.S. Trustees
Re: Covid-19 and consumer bankruptcy practice
Dear Director White:
On behalf of our NACBA membership and our entire NACBA Board of Directors, I am writing to you to suggest immediate (and hopefully temporary) remedial actions regarding the administration of Ch. 7 and Ch. 13 bankruptcy cases. These suggestions are meant to help stabilize our joint goal to maintain the integrity of the bankruptcy system while we all struggle for equilibrium in these trying times.
All pending 341(a) meeting of creditors in consumer chapter 7, 13 and 11 cases be automatically adjourned for some period of time (such as at least 4 weeks), OR
that debtors and their counsel be permitted to appear telephonically, in place (given quarantine or social distancing, as applicable), by joint conference call or other electronic means, AND
that ‘wet’ signatures (allow for /s/ signatures) be eliminated for those forms and in those jurisdictions where ‘wet’ signatures are required.
We know that you are aware of the heightened risk of serious illness and death for those aged 60 and over if this Covid-19 virus is contracted. While we cannot know exactly the proportions of our Attorneys, Clients nor Trustees who belong to that demographic, speaking for myself as a 64 year old, the risks to us all, at the present time, are clearly too great to ignore. I am sure you will agree that these suggestions, while representing a change from normal case administration, are warranted.
Your prompt response and action along these lines is appreciated.
On behalf of NACBA,
John C. Colwell
President, Board of Directors
National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys
Nebraska is leading the way on this issue. For two years I nagged the court in this blog and in bankruptcy seminars to allow digital signatures of bankruptcy petition, and our court finally agreed that the evidence supported this practice starting in February 2018. For the past two years the Nebraska bankruptcy court has allowed debtors to sign their case electronically with digital signatures and the program has been a stunning success. Debtors may review and sign documents through digital signature vendors like DocuSign and receive an immediate copy of what they signed.
In this strange and stressful Covid-19 virus episode, our clients are able to send and sign all required documents to us electronically. Most if not all of the work can be completed over the telephone and email.
Nebraska is the only bankruptcy court allowing digital signatures. And now the rest of the nation is in a panic to allow what our wise court accepted over two years ago.
The next step is to allow debtors to testify at the required trustee meeting over the telephone or via a video conference, such as Skype. Our Nebraska trustee has already begun testing that service this past year.
Our office is fully ready to protect clients from the spread of the Covid-19 virus with the following service:
- Telephone or video consultations.
- Digital signatures of all bankruptcy documents.
- Documents may be emailed or sent via a ShareFile system.
- Payments are accepted online on our website, www.SamTurcoLaw.net
- We have video conferencing services ready to facilitate handling court hearings over the internet.
- All our staff is able to work from home.
- We handle cases in all 93 Nebraska counties.
As a result of continuously modernizing our firm, we are 100% ready for this Covid-19 virus. Imagine that, a little state like Nebraska is the clear leader in solving this national problem, and I am in daily contact with attorneys nationwide who are looking to copy what we implemented two years ago. So much thanks is owed to Judge Thomas Saladino who had the guts to try something new that will soon benefit debtors and attorneys nationally.
Updated daily, this blog will keep you informed on the latest bankruptcy news! 
Learn more about how Bankruptcy works and what you need to know.