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By Winnie Hu and Mariana Alfaro
Jenine James no longer worries about getting stranded when the subways and buses are unreliable — a constant frustration these days — or cannot take her to where she needs to go. Her Plan B: Uber.
So Ms. James, 20, a barista in Brooklyn, sees New York’s move to restrict ride-hail services as not just a threat to her own convenience and comfort but also to the alternative transportation system that has sprung up to fill in the gaps left by the city’s failing subways and buses. She does not even want to think about going back to a time when a train was her only option, as unlikely as that might be.
“It was bad, so imagining going back, it’s terrible,” she said.
The ride-hail cars that critics say are choking New York City’s streets have also brought much-needed relief to far corners of the city where just getting to work is a daily chore requiring long rides and multiple transfers, often squeezed into packed trains and buses. The black cars that crisscross transit deserts in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island have become staples in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods where residents complain that yellow taxis often refuse to pick them up. They come to the rescue in the rain, and during taxi shift changes, when rides are notoriously hard to find even in the heart of Manhattan.
New York became the first major American city on Wednesday to put a halt on issuing new vehicle licenses for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hail services amid growing concerns around the world about the impact they are having on cities.
The legislation calls for a one-year moratorium while the city studies the booming industry and also establishes pay rules for drivers. It was passed overwhelmingly by the City Council and is expected to be signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, who attempted to adopt a similar cap in 2015 but abandoned the effort after Uber waged a fierce campaign against him.
The cap was supported by many transportation analysts who say the ride-hail cars have contributed to worsening traffic in Midtown and Lower Manhattan, and by taxi drivers whose financial plight has become precarious in the past year, underscored by a spate of suicides. Mr. de Blasio held a celebratory rally on Thursday with Corey Johnson, the City Council speaker who wrangled widespread support for the cap among his colleagues by focusing on the plight of taxi drivers.
Bruce Schaller, a transportation consultant who has studied the ride-hail services, said that it was only a matter of time before city officials took action. Since Uber successfully fended off a proposed limit three years ago, the number of for-hire vehicles in the city has soared from about 63,000 to more than 100,000.
“You can’t have Uber and Lyft growing forever in Manhattan without having total gridlock,” Mr. Schaller said. “At some point, the city was going to have to say enough — and they have now said enough.”
But Alix Anfang, a spokeswoman for Uber, said the city’s “12-month pause” on issuing new vehicle licenses will threaten a reliable transportation option for New Yorkers without improving the reliability of the subways outside Manhattan. “As Uber continues to grow in communities outside of Manhattan, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that no New Yorker who needs a ride is left stranded,” she said.
Nisha James, 34, a nanny from Brooklyn, said she felt the cap on the ride-hail services had been a Manhattan-centric decision without regard for what it will mean for riders in the other boroughs. “I don’t think they were thinking about anywhere else,” she said, adding that the cap will likely send her and other Uber riders back to public transit when they cannot get a car.
In the Bronx, Jeff Gutierrez, 26, said that he only takes Uber now to commute to his job in media sales for a cable news station across the borough. Uber takes 15 minutes. The bus takes 1 hour and 30 minutes and is so crowded he cannot always get a seat. There is no contest. “We should not be stuffed like sardines in a bus,” he said. “Uber is so affordable and convenient. I will never ride the bus or train again as long I work in the city.”
Uber officials said that they planned to recruit drivers who already hold for-hire vehicle licenses in the city to work for Uber, a group that represents as many as 35,000 potential new drivers. Moreover, since the moratorium is on new vehicles — not new drivers — they also hoped to maximize the use of existing vehicles by encouraging their owners to allow other drivers to use them when they are sitting idle.
Though the cap would apply citywide, the ride-hail companies have warned that it could lead to fewer cars and worse service with longer wait times and higher prices, particularly in the boroughs outside Manhattan. With a limited supply of vehicles, too many drivers could opt to remain in Manhattan picking up well-heeled tourists and business workers, leaving too few drivers in the other boroughs where ridership has been growing the fastest. Yellow taxis, which are similarly limited in number, have traditionally been concentrated in Manhattan’s business districts, though they can legally operate anywhere in the city.
Mr. Schaller acknowledged such concerns, but added that unlike taxis, the ride-hail cars are dispatched with technology that allows the drivers to see exactly where the calls are coming in. He said that if they see more calls coming from, say, Queens, they will go there. “Water doesn’t bunch up at one end of the lake, it levels off across the whole lake,” he said. “The drivers chase the money — and if the money is all over the city — they go all over the city.”
Not all fans of the ride-hail services were disappointed by the regulations. Shiri Wolf, 38, a lawyer who recently moved back to the Upper West Side, said that even though she has come to rely on the ride-hail services, something needed to be done about the “horrendous” traffic on city streets.
“In the five years I’ve been gone, I think traffic must have doubled,” she said. “It’s fair to have cabbies earn a decent living, and they may have some efficiencies to gain, to learn from Lyft and Uber, but on the whole they’re more expensive because they’re regulated and I think regulation is a way to keep things fair for everybody.”
Still, some riders are bracing for the worst. Carmel Maurice, a client coordinator from Brooklyn, was seething as she waited for an Uber outside the Atlantic Terminal, a major transit hub in Brooklyn, on Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after the legislation passed. “I feel like it’s unfair,” she said, adding that she had opted out of public transit in Brooklyn because “it’s never reliable, it’s never on time.”
Darella Jasper, a Brooklyn security worker, said that if the rides become more expensive, she might have to cut back on her use of Uber and Lyft, even though they are the easiest way for her to get around Brooklyn and Queens. “To get from point A to point B,” she said. “We’re just going to have to find other alternatives.”
Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THE ELDERLY FILING FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION
The number of elderly filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991.
As a study, from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, explains, elderly people whose finances are precarious have few places to turn. “When the costs of aging are off-loaded onto a population that simply does not have access to adequate resources, something has to give,” the study says, “and older Americans turn to what little is left of the social safety net — bankruptcy court.”
“You can manage O.K. until there is a little stumble,” said Deborah Thorne, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Idaho and an author of the study. “It doesn’t even take a big thing.”
Bankruptcy can offer a fresh start for people who need one, but for older Americans it “is too little too late,” the study says.
“By the time they file, their wealth has vanished and they simply do not have enough years to get back on their feet.”
According to an article in the New York Times – Not only are more older people seeking relief through bankruptcy, but they also represent a widening slice of all filers: 12.2 percent of filers are now 65 or older, up from 2.1 percent in 1991.
Those who need help, but have no place to look for help.
Even the smallest of unexpected expenses, such as a broken tooth or vehicle accident, can lead to a financial explosion.
Rising costs for housing and health care point to increased living expenses, along with other burdens, such as caring for younger generations or co-signed student loans for children and grandchildren. Even the smallest of unexpected expenses, such as a broken tooth or vehicle accident, can lead to a financial explosion. Not to mention the horrific damage a serious medical issue brings to the already financially strapped elder person.
By 2013, the average Medicare beneficiary’s out-of-pocket spending on health care consumed 41 percent of the average Social Security check, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, which also estimated that the figure would rise.
It is a challenge for those over 65 to find sources of additional income.
In order to cover basic living expenses many are forced into low paying jobs, such as a greeter at Walmart or clerk in convenience store. In the long run the income from job barely cover the costs related to employment, such as increased transportation costs, additional health problems related to the physical burdens of working (such as standing too long or lifting heavy items).
At a time in their lives when our parents and grandparents deserve some peace of mind they are left with living in a financial nightmare.
There is no one answer to this nationwide problem, but it must be addressed now because the next generation facing retirement is carrying more debt than members of earlier generations, in an analysis by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. This is a problem that is not going away any time soon.
The post Dramatic Increase in Elderly Filing Bankruptcy appeared first on Diane L. Drain - Phoenix Bankruptcy & Foreclosure Attorney.
Below is the final set of Tacoma bankruptcy traps for the unwary. Please let me know if you have any questions at all about any of the issues raised in these posts, we are happy to help:
10. Not Paying Your Employee Withholding Taxes
If you are a Tacoma business owner, please do not make the mistake of failing to pay your employee withholding taxes to the IRS. The IRS has the power to assess certain individuals responsible for managing a company for any employee withholding taxes that are not paid by the company.
Employee withholding taxes are not dischargeable in Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. So if you are thinking about filing bankruptcy, the one debt that you want to stay current on is the employee withholding taxes. We can deal with the credit cars, the car loans, the medical bills and whatever else. Don’t pay the credit cards which are normally easily discharged and skip the employee withholding taxes.
11. Emptying Retirement Accounts to Pay Debts Off
Most retirement accounts are completely protected in a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, most debts that people pay off when they empty retirement accounts would have easily been eliminated in bankruptcy. Even worse many would be Tacoma bankruptcy filers incur tax penalties while taking out money from retirement accounts to pay off debts that would have been eliminated anyway.
Save your retirement account for retirement. You want to pay off your creditors but this is not the way to do it. Chapter 13 bankruptcy as an alternative will enable you to keep your retirement account, pay something back, but keep your retirement account intact.
12. Refinancing Your home or Taking a Second Mortgage on Your House to Pay Debts
Refinancing your home or getting a second to pay off debts is generally a pretty poor idea. First of all, over $125,000 in equity is completely exempt in a Tacoma bankruptcy. If you have about this amount in equity or less, you have a good chance of eliminating all the debts without harming your biggest investment or needlessly racking up thousands of dollars of interest.
If you have more than $125,000 in equity, filing chapter 13 is likely a much better option than taking equity out of your house. In Chapter 13, you can always wait three plus years before completing a refi or sale of your property to pay off some of your creditors. During that time no interest accrues on the debt and you likely pay off a much smaller sum than you would if you refinanced or got a second mortgage now.
Sadly, we see clients pull all of the equity out of their homes and still end up filing bankruptcy. You should never take out a second mortgage or refinance your home in order to pay off debts without first having an attorney assist you in assessing your entire financial situation.
Please let me know if you have any questions at all regarding any of the issues raised in this post. We have bankruptcy law offices in both Tacoma and Seattle and we would be happy to help.
The post Tacoma Bankruptcy Traps – A Four Part Series – Part 4 appeared first on Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief.
By Emma G. Fitzsimmons
New York became the first major American city on Wednesday to halt new vehicle licenses for ride-hail services, dealing a significant setback to Uber in its largest market in the United States.
The legislation passed overwhelmingly by the City Council will cap the number of for-hire vehicles for a year while the city studies the booming industry. The bills also allow New York to set a minimum pay rate for drivers.
Uber has become one of Silicon Valley’s biggest success stories and changed the way people across the globe get around. But it has faced increased scrutiny from government regulators and struggled to overcome its image as a company determined to grow at all costs with little regard for its impact on cities.
New York’s move to restrict the number of ride-hail vehicles and to establish pay rules for drivers — another step no other major city has taken — could provide a model for other governments that want to rein in the industry. New York’s aggressive stance also raises questions over how fast Uber can continue to grow as the company, which has been valued at $62 billion, plans to move toward an initial public offering next year.
The proposal to cap ride-hail companies led to a clash among interest groups with taxi industry officials saying the companies were dooming their business and Uber mounting a major advertising campaign to make the case that yellow cabs have a history of discriminating against people of color.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Corey Johnson, the City Council speaker, said the bills will curtail the worsening traffic on the streets and improve low driver wages.
“We are pausing the issuance of new licenses in an industry that has been allowed to proliferate without any appropriate check or regulation,” Mr. Johnson said before the vote, adding that the rules would not diminish existing service for New Yorkers who rely on ride-hail apps.
Mr. de Blasio praised the bills and said he planned to sign them into law. The cap on new for-hire vehicles would take effect immediately.
“More than 100,000 workers and their families will see an immediate benefit from this legislation,” Mr. de Blasio said, referring to the city’s army of for-hire drivers. “And this action will stop the influx of cars contributing to the congestion grinding our streets to a halt.”
But Uber has warned its riders that the cap could produce higher prices and longer wait times for passengers if the company cannot keep up with the growing demand. Ride-hail apps have become a crucial backup option for New Yorkers swept up in the constant delays on the city’s sputtering subway, as happened on Wednesday when signal problems again snarled train lines across a large swath of the city. Ride-hail services have also grown in neighborhoods outside Manhattan where the subway does not reach.
The battle over Uber’s future in New York has been prompted in part by growing concerns over financial turmoil among drivers — a problem underscored by six driver suicides in recent months. On Wednesday, a large group of drivers rallied outside City Hall before the vote and held signs displaying the names of the drivers who took their lives.
New York is the latest city to grapple with questions over how to regulate the company. In London, Uber’s most lucrative European market, Uber recently regained its taxi license after the company agreed to stricter regulations, including providing the city with the trove of traffic data that the firm collects and has often been reluctant to share. Uber has also faced regulatory battles in American cities, like Austin, Tex., and in countries like Canada, Brazil and Italy.
In Seattle, the City Council approved a bill allowing Uber drivers to form unions, but the measure has faced a legal challenge. Uber left Austin in 2016 after the City Council passed a measure requiring the company to perform fingerprint background checks, though Uber later returned to the city. The mayor of Honolulu recently vetoed a bill to cap price increases by Uber during busy periods.
The company’s new chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, has embarked on a global charm offensive to repair the company’s image after a series of controversies, including complaints among workers over gender discrimination and harassment.
Uber criticized the Council’s decision to approve the cap, but said the company would work to keep up with the increasing appeal of its service despite the limit on new vehicles.
“The City’s 12-month pause on new vehicle licenses will threaten one of the few reliable transportation options while doing nothing to fix the subways or ease congestion,” Josh Gold, a spokesman for Uber, said in a statement.
Anand Sanwal, chief executive of CB Insights, a software company that examines technology trends, said the cap could impact Uber’s public offering if it reduces revenues and emboldens other cities to take similar action.
“If it changes their growth trajectory, that could have an impact on their valuation and the narrative around the company,” Mr. Sanwal said.
Uber said the company would immediately reach out to tens of thousands of for-hire vehicle owners who are already licensed but work for other local car services and try to recruit them to work for Uber. The company said it would also continue to press for another solution, known as congestion pricing — a proposal to toll drivers entering Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods and that would require approval from state lawmakers.
Many experts believe congestion pricing is the best way for New York City to fix congestion and secure the funds needed to fix the subway. Mr. Johnson supports the idea, but Mr. de Blasio has opposed it. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who controls the subway, has said he will push for congestion pricing during the next state legislative session to help pay for an ambitious, multibillion dollar overhaul plan for the subway.
The City Council approved the cap in a 39-to-6 vote. Councilman Eric Ulrich, a Republican from Queens, said he opposed the cap, arguing that limiting Uber to help yellow taxis was similar to regulating Netflix, the streaming service, to help Blockbuster, the video rental chain.
The legislation allows for the city’s taxi commission to add more licenses if there is a clear need for more vehicles in some neighborhoods. In New York, many Uber drivers work full time and the city regulates Uber vehicles as part of the for-hire vehicle industry, which is different than other cities.
The City Council also moved recently to regulate Airbnb, another tech company that has upended the hotel industry. Mr. Johnson, a Democrat who became City Council speaker in January, has quickly taken bold steps to make a name for himself on high-profile issues, including convincing the mayor to pay for half-price MetroCards for poor New Yorkers.
Many taxi and Uber drivers say they support the cap proposal. They hope it will halt the flood of new vehicles clogging city streets and allow them to make more trips and improve their earnings. Uber and other ride-hail services could add new vehicles only if they are wheelchair accessible.
Lyft, the second most popular app in New York, also criticized the vote: “These sweeping cuts to transportation will bring New Yorkers back to an era of struggling to get a ride, particularly for communities of color and in the outer boroughs,” Joseph Okpaku, a vice president at Lyft, said in a statement.
The vote was a moment of vindication for Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, who lost a bruising battle with Uber over a proposal for a cap in 2015. Since then, the number of for-hire vehicles in the city has surged to more than 100,000 vehicles, from about 63,000 in 2015, according to the city.
The taxi industry has also been decimated by Uber’s rise. The price of a taxi medallion, which is required to operate a taxi in New York, has plunged from more than $1 million to less than $200,000.
Elizabeth Cassarino, a yellow taxi driver, said she supports the cap and hopes it will improve business for taxis. As she drove a taxi through the clogged streets of Manhattan on Wednesday, she said her credit cards were maxed out and she had trouble making enough money to pay for food.
“Finally,” she said. “We’re starving to death.”
Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
This item is part of a series of blog posts about bankruptcy traps that can turn a Tacoma bankruptcy filing into an expensive or less than smooth process. If you can read Part 1 and Part 2 here.
7. Leaving Money in Account Where You also Have a Credit Account
One expensive error in a bankruptcy filing is leaving money in a bank account where you also have a credit card or some form of debt stemming from a credit account. Filing bankruptcy under these circumstances entitles the bank or credit union to empty your account and apply the proceeds to your debt. Do all banks and credit unions do this? The answer is no, but caution argues for you to start putting your paycheck in a bank or credit union where you have no credit relationship as soon as you know that you are filing bankruptcy.
Many of our Tacoma clients find this troublesome. After all, many of them have had relationships with their credit unions for decades. The fact is though that you don’t have to close your account or take any dramatic action, you just need to put your money someplace else until your bankruptcy is completed. Failing that, I would contact your bank or credit union, maybe anonymously, to find out whether they freeze accounts.
Forewarned is forearmed.
8. Inheritance Within 6 Months After Filing for Bankruptcy
In a Tacoma chapter 7 bankruptcy, the income you receive after your case is filed is, within reason, largely irrelevant to the bankruptcy court. There is one huge exception tough.
If you become entitled to an inheritance within 180 days after your bankruptcy case is filed, you must notify your attorney so that he can notify the bankruptcy trustee. The trustee will then distribute the inheritance in order to pay off your creditors. You will only get what’s left after your creditors and the trustee’s fees are paid off.
It is extremely important to understand that it is not a matter of whether you receive an inheritance within 180 days, the triggering event is someone dying within the 180 day period. If someone does and you are in the will, it can take years for the inheritance to be distributed and the trustee will still be able to come after your share.
9. Personal Injury Claims
If prior to the filing of your bankruptcy you are injured and a personal injury claim arises, the funds stemming from the eventual recovery is personal property. While there are exemptions that will likely enable you to protect at least $20,000 of the eventual award, you should know that just because you haven’t received the funds yet or settled your claim, it has already arisen. A Tacoma Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee will patiently wait until the matter is settled before grabbing any amount not protected by your available exemptions.
You must let your bankruptcy lawyer know if you have been in an accident or expect some type of settlement or payout so that your lawyer can properly advise you as to when your bankruptcy case should be filed. Sometimes it is better to wait until the personal injury claim has been settled and paid before jumping into a bankruptcy case. Other times it doesn’t matter at all.
The post Tacoma Bankruptcy Traps – A Four Part Series – Part 3 appeared first on Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief.
Many individuals who owns taxi medallions that are “underwater” (the amount of the bank loan exceeds the value of the medallion) are interested in cramming down the taxi medallion loan so that the secured portion of the taxi medallion loan equals the value of the taxi medallion and the remainder of the taxi medallion loan would be treated as unsecured debt.
As discussed below, the secured portion of the taxi medallion loan would be paid in full and the unsecured portion would be paid pennies on the dollar, allowing the medallion owner to pay the bank less than the full amount of its loan and keep the medallion!
In the way of background, chapter 13 is not available to corporations or limited liability companies; pursuant to § 109(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, only individuals can file for chapter 13 bankruptcy. So, if a mini fleet was owned by a corporation or an LLC, a chapter 13 filing would not be permitted. The corporation or LLC could file for chapter 7 or chapter 11 bankruptcy (see our previous blog post on chapter 11 and cramdown).
In our example, let’s assume that a taxi medallion is worth $175,000 and the individual who owns that medallion owes the bank $500,000 (the collateral for the loan is the taxi medallion). $175,000 of the debt would be deemed secured and the remaining $325,000 would be deemed unsecured.
To file for chapter 13 bankruptcy, there are debt limitations; pursuant to § 109(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, an individual debtor must have unsecured debt of less than $394,725 and secured debt of less than $1,184,200.
Chapter 13 also requires that the debtor (medallion owner) must have a job or regular source of income to fund the chapter 13 plan. The duration of a chapter 13 plan is generally three to five years. A medallion owner filing for chapter 13 must pay the bank and other creditors $1 more than they would get in a chapter 7 bankruptcy (the “best interest of creditors” test) and the bankruptcy judge must determine that the plan is feasible, meaning that the debtor will be able to make the payments under the plan.
If the above requirements are met, and the bank will not agree to have its debt bifurcated into secured and unsecured components, the debtor must move to “cram down” the bank or secured creditor.
Cramming down a secured creditor is detailed in § 1325(a)(5)(B) of the Bankruptcy Code and the relevant provisions are as follows:
- The first essential element in chapter 13 cramdown is that the plan provides for the retention of the lien securing the allowed secured claim by the bank.
- Chapter 13 cramdown requires that the chapter 13 plan propose to distribute property having a value, as of the effective date of the plan, at least equal to the amount of the allowed secured claim. The effective date of the plan will ordinarily be provided for by the plan and may be the date the order confirming the chapter 13 plan becomes final.
- Property can be distributed to the bank over the course of the plan period. The property may be property of the estate in existence at the date of confirmation, or deferred cash payments representing future earnings or income of the chapter 13 debtor, provided that at the time the plan becomes effective, the value of the property to be distributed in the future equals the amount of the allowed secured claim.
- Section 1325(a)(5)(B)(iii)(I) provides that if property to be distributed to the holder of an allowed secured claim is via periodic payments, such payments shall be in equal monthly amounts.
- The valuation conducted by the court under § 1325(a)(5)(B)(ii) is meant to determine whether the property to be distributed under the plan is at least equal in value to the amount of the allowed secured claim. In most chapter 13 cases, the property to be distributed under the plan will consist of deferred cash payments derived from the earnings or other future income of the chapter 13 debtor during the plan period.
- Section 1325(a)(5)(B)(ii) requires the court to determine the value of property to be distributed under the plan, as of the effective date of the plan. In other words, the court must ascertain the present value of the property to be distributed. Accordingly, in addition to deferred principal payments aggregating the face amount of the allowed secured claim, a chapter 13 plan need only propose to pay interest on the amount of the allowed secured claim at the appropriate rate (many courts have endorsed using the prime rate plus a risk premium of 1 to 3 percent) over the duration of the plan.
- Section 1325(a)(5)(B)(ii) requires that the present value of property to be distributed under the plan be not less than the amount of the allowed secured claim. The amount of the allowed secured claim is determined in accordance with the provisions of §§ 506(a) and (b) of the Bankruptcy Code. Section 506(a) provides that an allowed claim is either undersecured or oversecured, based on a determination by the court as to whether the property secured by the creditor’s lien has a value that is greater or smaller than the amount of the allowed claim.
Therefore in our example, let’s assume that the interest rate on the $500,000 loan was 5% (the current prime rate) and the Debtor proposed a chapter 13 plan, to cramdown the bank, by allowing the bank to retain its lien during the term of the loan and repaying the bank $175,000 over 5 years at 6% (prime rate plus a risk premium of 1%), or monthly payments of $3,383.00, month, plus chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee payments of a maximum of 10% per plan payment, then the Debtor could confirm a chapter 13 plan and keep the medallion, if it made 5 years (60 months of payments) at $3,383 per month or $3,721.30 per month with the 10% Bankruptcy Trustee fee included.
Besides a chapter 13 cramdown, a medallion owner may also want to consider a workout with the bank, a chapter 7 bankruptcy or surrendering the medallion to the bank. Individuals with underwater medallions should talk to an experienced bankruptcy attorney before deciding on what strategy to pursue. Jim
The July 2018 New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) sales results have been released to the public. And as is our practice, provided below are James Shenwick’s comments about those sales results.
1. The volume of transfers fell from June. In July, there were 36 taxi medallion sales.
2. 22 of the 36 sales were foreclosure sales, which means that the medallion owner defaulted on the bank loan and the banks were foreclosing to obtain possession of the medallion. We disregard these transfers in our analysis of the data, because we believe that they are outliers and not indicative of the true value of the medallion, which is a sale between a buyer and a seller under no pressure to sell (fair market value). Three transfers were estate sales for no consideration and two transfers were also for no consideration, which also do not reflect fair market value and which we have also excluded from our analysis.
3. However the large volume of foreclosure sales (approximately 61%) is in our opinion evidence of the continued weakness in the taxi medallion market.
4. The nine regular sales for consideration ranged from a low of $160,000 (two medallions), $170,000 (two medallions), $175,000 (two medallions), $200,000 (one medallion) and an unusual high of $500,000 (two medallions).
5. Accordingly, the median value of a medallion in July was $175,000.
Please continue to read our blog to see what happens to medallion pricing in the future. Any individuals or businesses with questions about taxi medallion valuations or workouts should contact Jim Shenwick at (212) 541-6224 or via email at jshenwick@gmail.com.
I have seen a lot of clients recently who have had to file bankruptcy because they turned their cars in to the dealership. They expected that this it would be a solution to the problem of a car payment they could not afford. Nope. Big, big mistake.
Turning in a car to the dealership is, for legal purposes, exactly the same as a repossession. The dealer goes through the same steps. The dealer takes the car to auction and sells it — usually to themselves — for way less than the amount of the outstanding loan.
The remaining loan balance — known as a deficiency — is usually the subject of a lawsuit against the borrower. Most of the time, the borrower does not bother to contest the lawsuit. (There are few legal defenses to the lawsuit on the deficiency anyway.) The result is a judgment against the borrower, often for tens of thousands of dollars.
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Wells Fargo admitted last week that a calculation error involving a mortgage underwriting tool caused over 620 customers to being incorrectly refused modifications to make their loans more affordable. In the majority of these cases, the customers were forced into foreclosure and/or bankruptcy.
The flaw in the underwriting tool was found in an internal review, Wells said. The bank also noted that it has set aside over seven million for customers who were harmed by the error.
Wells also admitted that federal agencies are currently investigating how the bank bought certain federal low-income housing tax credits in connection with the financing of low-income housing developments.
The recent Wells disclosure is just the latest in a long stream of revelations about their practices that have harmed consumers. The U.S. Department of Justice has already imposed over two billion in fines on Wells for mortgages it made and sold to investors based on misrepresentations about the quality of residential loans. Once the loans went bad, investors lost literally billions of dollars.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have imposed fines of over $1 billion on Wells for bad mortgage and auto-lending practices.
Wells has promised to do better. No one has gone to jail. God only knows how many bankruptcies have been filed and household finances ruined for families across the state of Washington. Many of us still have accounts there.
It doesn’t take much for any family to go under. Most families are ultimately two missed paychecks away from having to file bankruptcy. Maybe not today but some months later as things start to snowball. If you are in a bad car loan or falling behind on a mortgage, let us know. There are options under the bankruptcy code that can even help you with the worst Wells Fargo loan.
The post Wells Fargo Admits Error that Created Hundreds of Foreclosures and Bankruptcies appeared first on Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief.
In my last post, I noted that I would be discussing twelve potential bankruptcy traps for anyone thinking about bankruptcy in the Tacoma area. Note: Most of these traps are easily avoided. Frankly, many of these traps apply to consumers nationwide, but I wrote these posts with Tacoma filers in mind. I discussed the first three bankruptcy traps in my last post The second three traps are as follows:
4. Selling Property for Less than Face Value
Sometimes people think they can avoid losing money in bankruptcy by transferring property out of their name prior to the filing of their bankruptcy. But it rarely works.
If you sell something prior to the filing of your bankruptcy case you must sell it for approximately what it is worth. For example, let’s say you have a car that is worth about $10,000 and want to sell it prior to filing for bankruptcy. If you were to sell it in a legitimate sale for $9,800 and title actually transferred then there wouldn’t be a problem with you filing for bankruptcy. But, if you sold that same car for $400, way less than what it is worth, then the bankruptcy trustee could go back, void the sale, get the car back, sell at face value, and then distribute the money to your creditors.
If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy and think you need to sell something, ask your lawyer first. Chances are you won’t lose it in bankruptcy if you keep it. If you must sell something, make sure you sell it for what it is worth, make sure money actually changes hands and document the sale.
5. Payments to Unsecured Creditors in the 90 Days Prior to Filing Bankruptcy
If you pay an unsecured creditor within the ninety days prior to your bankruptcy filing, the Tacoma bankruptcy trustee can contact the creditor and demand the money back. Then, once they have the money, they will distribute it out to creditors evenly.
For example, let’s say that within 90 days prior to filing for bankruptcy you pay a photographer in Fife for the pictures they took of your anniversary party. The bankruptcy trustee can go and demand that those funds be paid back to the bankruptcy estate and then paid out to your creditors.
For many people, this is not a big deal. But sometimes it is. Maybe you paid your kid’s dentist or paid off an old bill to a child care provider or what if you want to do business with the Fife photographer again. Not much point of paying a service provider that you want to use in the future in the ninety days prior to filing if the trustee might go back and take the money from them.
6. Non-Homestead Real Estate
In Tacoma, the Washington homestead exemption protects up to $125,000 in equity in your home. However, if you have a cabin, condo, or some other sort of real estate in your name, and that property has any equity in it, there is no homestead exemption to protect it. While there is a miscellaneous exemption available to protect about $10,000 in equity in a non-homestead piece of real estate, that is not big enough to stop a Tacoma Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee from stepping in and selling the property, paying off any liens on the property and then taking most of the money, and doling it out to your other creditors.
If you have equity in real estate that is not your personal residence, you may want to look at a chapter 13 bankruptcy and discuss this situation with your lawyer. In chapter 13, there is no risk of having this property sold off.
The post Tacoma Bankruptcy Traps – A Four Part Series – Part 2 appeared first on Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief.
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