Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Say Law Change Has Little Impact
As the first anniversary of the "new bankruptcy law" approaches, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) has surveyed 700 bankruptcy attorneys about their experiences with the new law. While the new law creates additional hurdles and obstacles, more than 90% of attorneys report little or no substantive difference.
The credit card industry lobbied hard for the change in the bankruptcy law, painting a picture of irresponsible debtors running up high credit card bills and then opting out of repayment. However, Henry Sommer, President of NACBA, points out that the means test intended to screen out those debtors has instead demonstrated that very few bankruptcy petitioners have the ability to repay their debts. In addition, the NACBA survey indicated that fewer than 10% of consumer bankruptcy cases were linked to consumer spending issues.