Bankruptcy Information

Former billionaire Sean Quinn has filed for personal bankruptcy in Belfast, Ireland.  The personal bankruptcy filing states that Quinn owes $3.86 billion to the Irish Bank Resolution Center.

Quinn was once the richest man in Ireland with a personal worth of around $6 million.  The businessman earned his money by selling gravel and sand from a farm his father owned.  This business turned into a billion-dollar mining manufacturing business.  In addition, the billionaire worked in real estate and insurance.

When the nations economy and property market began to suffer in 2008, unfortunately some risky investments Quinn had made became worthless.

Tags: Bankruptcy, Personal Bankruptcy

Institutional lenders understand well Florida’s tenants by entireties protections, and they understand that they may not be able to enforce promissory notes against a married borrower unless the note is signed by both the borrower and his spouse. For this reason, most lenders will insist on joint signatures to loans or guarantees of business loans where a single spouse is the primary loan applicant. A common example is a husband who runs and owns a business applies for a commercial loan, and the bank approves the loan conditional upon the wife co-signing a guarantee even though the wife has nothing to do with the business and has no independent income.

A recent Florida appellate case held that banks’s demand joint signatures on loans or guarantees may be illegal when the loan is adequately supported by the applicant spouse’s income and credit score. The court suggested that a bank’s request for the spouse’s signature when the bank is simply trying to defeat entireties ownership may be in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 15. U.S.C 1691.

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Tags: Florida, Promissory Note

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Bankruptcy Research Center, personal bankruptcies were down for the fourth consecutive month in October.  2.1 percent fewer personal bankruptcy filings were filed in the U.S. in October than in September.

The 106,255 personal bankruptcies filed across the country last month were also down by 19.6 percent from a year before in October 2010.  Officials cite a decrease in the use of credit and a restriction in lending from banks as reasons for the decrease in bankruptcy filings.

“The declining filings correlate to tightened consumer spending and the overall pullback in consumer credit associated with a stagnant economy,” said ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano.

Tags: Consecutive Month, Month

This week, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. announced that their plan to exit bankruptcy has the approval of their creditors.  Lehman’s creditors hold about $160 billion of the investment bank’s debt.

The bank has 9 new settlements that they believe will provide enough approval from debt holders to end their bankruptcy in the near future.

Creditors have until November 4 to vote on Lehman’s bankruptcy exit plan.  The exit plan would pay back all creditors a total of $65 billion out of $320 billion in allowed claims.

The next hearing in the case will be held December 6.

To learn more about filing for bankruptcy in Birmingham, contact the Birmingham bankruptcy attorneys of Greenway Law, LLC by calling 205-324-4000 today.

Tags: Bankruptcy, Exit Bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers

The total number of bankruptcies filed in Wisconsin in the first nine months of this year were 9.5 percent lower than in the same time period last year.

So far this year, 21,167 bankruptcies have been filed in the state of Wisconsin.  In the first three quarters of 2010, 23,401 bankruptcies were filed across the state.

The most common type of bankruptcy filing has been Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows consumers to eliminate certain dischargeable debts like credit card debt, personal loans, leases, business debts, and more.

Bankruptcy experts say they have seen an increase in small business owners turning to Chapter 7 bankruptcy when their businesses experience financial troubles.

Tags: Bankruptcies 95, Percent