Bankruptcy Reform Bill???

[Gomer_P]

What is the name of your state?New Mexico

I was just reading on a site about chapter 7 bankruptcy earlier when I noticed something alarming, to me anyway. It said at the bottom of the page that chapter 7 will be hard for most individuals to do once George W. Bush gets his bankruptcy reform bill passed. I don't know how old this site was but this scares me considering that I want to file in December of 2005 at the earliest. Please clear this up for me as to whether or not I should be worried. Thanks,
T.J.

EDIT: Here is the site that I found the info on. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what I'm talking about.

 

[ihatearizona]

As of right now the BK reform bill is DEAD. But, there is talk of trying to run it through congress again. I'd file sooner than later if I were you.

I hope this legislation doesn't surprise anyone considering this administration's determination to screw the little guy in favor of the big corporations.

 

[Gomer_P]

Very true. I would file sooner but I have a major problem. On 11/22/2004 I gave my two vehicles to my mom as a birthday gift and to pay her back some of the debt that I owe her also. I still drive one of the cars occasionally but I'm told that a BK trustee will scrutinize this as fraud because it happened so close to the filing date. Should I get my mom to put the titles back into my name until the BK process is over? Thanks,
T.J.

 

[Michelle Rene']

Creditor's Meeting

When I went to my creditors meeting the Trustee wanted to know and he asked each person he interviewed that day the same thing. He asked me if I had any property that I signed over, sold, etc within the past four (4) years....I told him I surrendered my mobile home over to my ex husband a year ago and offered to show him the bill of sale but he was'nt interested in seeing it. I hope this helps you out some..

 

[Gomer_P]

So I should probably be okay as long as the Trustee knows that I pretty much had to do what I did to pay my mom back. See, the thing is, I had a decent job clearing about $400 a week a couple years ago and my mom bought two vehicles for me and I was paying her back. Since I lost that job and other debt situations have overwhelmed me, my mom asked me to give the cars back to her and that would make things okay between us. So, I did it and now I just happen to not have any assets other than what was purchased with the credit cards and my computer that I got 4 years ago. I'm willing to surrender these things regardless of exemptions but they won't be worth much at all. I just want to make sure that my filing will not be dropped because of what they think is fraud when it really isn't.

 

[Luna1964]

This Bill has been on the back burner for quite a while....since before 9/11. It is expected to be pushed thru within the first 6 months of this year wiht a 60/40 vote. It will definitely make it near impossible to get a CHapter 7. From what I have read it will require you to try other methods of debt reconsiliation...such as attend Credit Councelling, use a Credit Consolidation company,,,or you have to have certain wages vs. expenses. You waste alot of time and money and it is agonizing....drawn out much longer...so much so that people probably wont even want to try and file. The requirements to get a Chapter 7 will be very stringent. They want more people to take the Chapter 13 route.

Heres a link with the updates...you can find out the details on this site too.
http://www.bankruptcyfinder.com/bankruptcyreformnews.html#Anchorflash

Is there any reason you want to wait till DEC 2005??

 

[Gomer_P]

The only reason I want to wait that long is because of the recent transfer of car titles from me to my mom. I am told that this will probably get my case dropped so that I won't be able to go through with chapter 7 if the trustee sees this. I am told that transfering property within one year of filing will be seen as fraud and I really don't want that to happen. Will everything be okay if I get the car titles put back into my name? They will be exempt under the federal "WILD CARD" unused homestead exemption anyway so I know I won't lose them.

 

[Who's Liable?]

Wasn't this bill mostly funded and pushed by the CC companies? I thought I read somewhere that they were tired of people just claiming BK to get out of their debts...

 

[Gomer_P]

Lol, good one.

 

[bigun]

Make NO property transfers this close to filing unless, a lawyer advises you that it's OK.
Any new BK bill will take affect 180 days after the President signs it into law. So, if it passes you'll likely have some time.
There are lot of pressing issues for this Congress and Sen. Schumer who has blocked the previous bk attempts by introducing legislation that judgments against abortion rights protestors can't be discharged has said he'll not change his stance. This has kept the extreme right wing of the Republican party from voting for the legislation. It'll take 60 Senate votes to override Sen. Schumers amendment and force a vote and it's my understanding that at the moment, those 60 votes don't exist.
A lot will depend on what Sen. Friest wants to push. WIth SS reform and tort reform and Iraq and all of the other huge issues confronting the Senate you wonder will he want to expend political capital on bk reform.
A good site for updates is www.clla.org