CAN I Buy A HOUSE AFTER BANKRUPTCY?

After filing bankruptcy, you have no more debts.  You may start to think about  buying a home. 

You will have two concerns: savings for down payment and your credit score.

To buy a home, you need to have a downpayment. So,spend the first year after filing bankruptcy focusing on your savings account. 

Bankruptcy filing will affect your credit score negatively. However, you can increase your credit score and rebuild your credit by opening a credit card account and paying the total balance monthly on a timely basis.

You must continue to pay your debts on time. If you’ve got student loans or a car loan, make those payments on time, they would be reflected on your credit report and help increase your credit score. Within two years of bankruptcy filing, and by making timely paymenst on your accounts after bankruptcy your creditworthiness will be reestablished and will help you in qualifying for a home mortgage.

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Dodgers were cleared on Tuesday to borrow $60 million to make payroll, but the team spent its first full day in bankruptcy battling with Major League Baseball.

The team needs the money to pay salaries, including those of its players, while it tries to sort out its long-term finances against the backdrop of team owner Frank McCourt's bitter divorce and the demands of the league. 

The Dodgers on Monday became the sport's third team in three years to file for bankruptcy. But unlike the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers before it, the team did so with the league as an adversary, not an ally. 

The bankruptcy apparently caught off guard the league and McCourt's former wife, Jamie, who is fighting a California court battle for half of her ex-husband's stake in the team.

"This was sprung on all of us," attorney Laura Davis Jones, who represents Jamie McCourt, told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

The bankruptcy court judge said he would approve the team's request to borrow $60 million. The Dodgers will return to court on July 20 to seek approval to borrow up to an additional $90 million.

The Dodgers are incorporated in Delaware, whose bankruptcy court has a reputation for being friendly to debtors. The hearing in one of the courthouse's smallest courtrooms drew dozens of dark-suited attorneys, and kicked off with Judge Kevin Gross announcing: "Batter up."

The teamed has blamed Major League Baseball for the bankruptcy by rejecting a television deal that would have provided an urgent injection of cash as millions of dollars in debt and deferred compensation came due later this week.

An attorney for the Dodgers told the judge that the team and league were "at loggerheads," which drew a swift rebuttal from the league's attorney.

"Nothing could be further from the truth. Major League Baseball views the Dodgers as one of its cherished crown jewels," said league attorney Tom Lauria. "If there is anyone we are at loggerheads with, it is Mr. McCourt."

The league accused McCourt of "having siphoned off well over $100 million of club revenues" and bringing the team to the brink of missing payroll, according to court papers filed on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Dodgers did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

On June 20, the league vetoed the Dodgers' proposed $3 billion, 17-year television contract with News Corp's Fox Broadcasting Co, saying it ran contrary to the best interests of the team, the game and fans.

The Dodgers plan a second attempt to sell the TV rights in bankruptcy, according to court papers.

The bankruptcy hearing was put on hold while attorneys for the league and the team spent 90 minutes in a conference room to work out differences over the emergency $60 million loan to be provided by a unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co

The lender has agreed to provide a total of up to $150 million.

Providers of bankruptcy loans often are able to use the loans to gain leverage over bankrupt companies, and the league offered to provide its own loan at a lower rate of interest than the 10 percent the Dodgers agreed to pay.

Lawyers for the Dodgers told the judge that the team's financial problems are short term.

The team has payroll to meet this week, as well as a one-time $10.5 million deferred compensation payment. It also is required to set aside $18 million under its collective bargaining agreement with the baseball players union.

Unlike most bankrupt companies, the team's assets exceed its liabilities, which should give the Dodgers room for financial maneuvering. But the McCourts' divorce battle further complicates the bankruptcy, as does the team's soured relations with Major League Baseball.

Forbes magazine in March ranked the Dodgers as baseball's third-most valuable team, worth $800 million -- more than twice what McCourt paid. Only the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are worth more, Forbes said.

The case is In re: Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 11-12010.

(Reporting by Tom Hals; editing by Carol Bishopric) 

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming Major League Baseball for rejecting a television deal that would have given the storied baseball team an urgent injection of cash.

The filing marks a dramatic attempt by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, who is embroiled in a bitter divorce from his ex-wife Jamie, to prevent the league and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig from seizing the team, which McCourt bought in 2004. 

In a court filing, the team said it had been "on the verge of running out of cash" but that the Chapter 11 filing will allow it to meet payroll, sign players, pay vendors and continue playing baseball. 

"It is becoming rather clear and likely inevitable that Frank McCourt will end up selling part or all of the franchise," said David Carter, a sports business professor at the University of Southern California. "I have to believe the back-and-forth between him and Major League Baseball leaves them where they won't be able to coexist much longer." 

Selig responded to the bankruptcy filing with a statement blaming the Dodgers' financial woes on McCourt's excessive debt and his diversion of club assets to address personal needs. 

"My goal from the outset has been to ensure that the Dodgers are being operated properly now and will be guided appropriately in the future for their millions of fans," the commissioner said.

"The ideas and proposals that I have been asked to consider have not been consistent with the best interests of Baseball. The action taken today by Mr. McCourt does nothing but inflict further harm to this historic franchise." 

On June 20, the league vetoed the Dodgers' proposed $3 billion, 17-year television contract with News Corp's Fox Broadcasting Co, saying it ran contrary to the best interests of the team, the game and fans.

The deal promised an upfront payment to the Dodgers of $385 million, but Selig has criticized the proposed use of part of that money to fund McCourt's divorce.

McCourt has said the payment was crucial to the team's health. According to a court filing, the Dodgers need to pay or set aside more than $28 million for payroll by July 1.

"We brought the commissioner a media rights deal that would have solved the cash flow challenge I presented to him a year ago," McCourt said in a statement. "Yet he's turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today."

Forbes magazine in March ranked the Dodgers as baseball's third-most valuable team, worth $800 million. That is more than twice what McCourt paid, and trails only the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, it said.

NO WORLD SERIES SINCE 1988

Monday's filing punctuates a stunning fall for one of baseball's marquee teams, whose roots date to 1884 when it played in New York as the Brooklyn Atlantics.

The team became the Dodgers permanently in 1932, and broke Major League Baseball's racial barrier when Jackie Robinson began playing in 1947. It began playing in Los Angeles in 1958 and has called Dodger Stadium home since 1962.

This year, the team has a 35-44 record and has seen home attendance decline sharply. The Dodgers have won six World Series championships, but none since 1988.

A call to the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was not returned.

Baseball took over day-to-day control of the Dodgers in April amid worries about team finances, and security concerns that followed a brutal Opening Day beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.

"The filing preserves the status quo," said Jack Williams, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta who specializes in sports law. "Major League Baseball will have a major, if not the predominant, voice in the ultimate ownership structure for the team."

Monday's filing comes less than a year after the Texas Rangers baseball team emerged from bankruptcy, owned by a group that includes Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan.

Another marquee franchise, the New York Mets, is also overloaded with debt, and its owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, face a $1 billion lawsuit by the trustee seeking money for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

The owners are in talks to sell part of that team to hedge fund manager David Einhorn for $200 million.

Other teams to file for bankruptcy in recent years include the Buffalo Sabres and Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League.

MANNY RAMIREZ, ANDRUW JONES ARE CREDITORS

The Dodgers arranged a $150 million, one-year financing from lenders led by affiliates of JPMorgan Chase & Co's Highbridge Capital Management LLC, so the team can operate normally while in bankruptcy, court records show.

According to a court filing, the variable interest rate on the loan would be at least 10 percent, and the team could draw $60 million immediately and $90 million later.

The Dodgers' filing in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware shows between $500 million and $1 billion of assets and between $100 million and $500 million of liabilities.

Four other related entities also filed for protection from creditors, including one that owns Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers said the team's largest unsecured creditors include former outfielders Manny Ramirez and Andruw Jones, who are owed $21 million and $11.1 million, respectively.

Ramirez retired in April rather than accept a 100-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy, after serving a 50-game suspension in 2009. Jones plays for the New York Yankees.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon scheduled a one-day trial in August to decide whether the Dodgers belong to Frank McCourt, or whether the McCourts should split the team.

The McCourts' lawyers on June 17 said the pair had resolved all issues in their divorce except for the Dodgers' ownership.

Bankruptcy could give Frank McCourt "an exit strategy," said Carter, the USC professor.

"The Dodgers have historically been one of the greatest brands in sports," he said. "Buyers may view this as a chance to buy in with the knowledge they can rehabilitate the brand, rebuild the fan base, and add to its value over time."

The case is In re: Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 11-12010.

(Writing by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by John Wallace) 

1.5 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2010 

By Jerry White
6 January 2011 

The number of people in the US filing for bankruptcy rose by 9 percent last year to 1.53 million, as more working families fell victim to job losses, plunging home values and unforgiving creditors. 

The figure was the highest since 2005 when changes in the bankruptcy laws making it more difficult and costly to file led to a sharp decline in the number of Americans seeking court protection. The recent spike in cases—despite the added costs and legal hurdles—is indicative of just how desperate large segments of the American population are despite the official claims of an economic recovery.

Over the last three years—as the economic recession and 2008 crash took hold—4 million consumers filed for bankruptcy, with last year’s numbers matching the record levels reached before 2005. While most filers earn less than $30,000 and lack a college degree, a growing percentage of families with incomes above $60,000 and college degrees are being forced into bankruptcy.

As tens of millions are finding it impossible to pay their bills, the corporations and banks are raking in record profits, top executives are pocketing huge payouts and the richest 2 percent of the population is celebrating the tax cut handed to them by Obama and the congressional Republicans.

Now, the debate in Washington is dominated by a drive to forge a bipartisan consensus to slash social spending, cut taxes and regulation on big business and reduce wages and benefits in order to make American corporations more competitive and profitable This only underscores the class chasm between the corporate-political elite and the masses of working people who are facing a social catastrophe.

The growth in personal insolvency last year was seen in virtually every part of the country, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. The sharpest rise was in the Southwest and Southeast, with Nevada recording 15,000 filings per million, more than double the 6,600 filings per million recorded nationwide. The state has the nation’s highest unemployment rate and credit card and mortgage delinquency, and one in every 99 homes is in foreclosure, according to realtytrac.com.

After Nevada, Georgia and Tennessee had the highest filing rates, each with more than 10,000 filings per million, according to the report. The states with the highest year-to-year increase were Hawaii (22 percent), California (19 percent), Utah (19 percent) and Arizona (18 percent).

Families are being driven into bankruptcy after a spouse has lost a job or had their working hours cut, or a small business has gone under, according to local news reports. Mortgage payments and other bills became too much to handle, with families receiving 15 to 18 calls a day from creditors before they filed for court protection.

Tracy Compo of Tucson, Arizona told the Las Vegas Review-Journal troubles began three years ago when her husband could no longer get overtime at work. Efforts to get the bank to modify their loan failed and they were forced into foreclosure on their home. They tried to raise income by selling off possessions—jewelry, clothes and anything else to pay the bills—but credit card debt continued to mount, and in December they filed for bankruptcy in hopes of getting a new start.

“It’s very depressing,” Compo, a 32-year-old mother of three, told the Review-Journal, “It’s degrading—like you’ve lost all sense of control. I hate it. I’m embarrassed by it.”

In Nevada, bankruptcy lawyers said business showed no signs of slowing, with one attorney saying he increased his staff by a third just to handle the demand. “It’s as busy as it was last year, and it is going to get even busier,” Anthony DeLuca told the Las Vegas newspaper.

In South Florida personal bankruptcy filings rose by a staggering 40 percent, the Sun-Sentinel reported, with the number of cases in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties rising from 24,681 in 2009 to 34,579 in 2010. Local reports attribute the sharp rise to the pace of home foreclosures, joblessness in the state—where the unemployment rate is 12 percent—and a wave of business closures.

David Langley, a bankruptcy lawyer in Plantation, told the Sun-Sentinel that many of his cases involved clients who were in construction, real estate or related businesses and professions. “There is a ripple effect—the little restaurant that was near the construction site or near some real estate firm” ended up having to file for bankruptcy. Often, he said, he filed both personal bankruptcy and business bankruptcy for the owner.

Medical expenses are one of the biggest causes of personal bankruptcy, with a Harvard University study carried out before the economic downturn attributing 62 percent of all filings to health care debts. The study noted that 78 percent of those filing bankruptcy had medical insurance.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, family health insurance premiums more than doubled between 1999 and 2009, far outpacing workers’ earnings and overall inflation, as employers increasing dumped the costs of medical care on their workforces.

The sharp increase in long-term joblessness—the most dire since the Great Depression—has worsened the situation. More and more families are forced to rely on credit cards to pay for food, utilities and other basic necessities, in addition to picking up the cost of their health insurance.

Increasingly those who still have a job are facing wage cuts and being forced into part-time and temporary positions. In the past, home equity loans—based on the rising value of their homes—could be gotten to offset the decline in income. These are no longer an option as homeowners owe far more than the dwindling value of their homes. The tightening of consumer credit has also pushed people over the edge, after they borrowed in an effort to prevent bankruptcy.

The crisis is affecting every demographic group. A 2010 study from the University of Michigan Law School, “The Rise in Elder Bankruptcy Filings,” found that those 65 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the US population seeking bankruptcy protection, owing a median $22,562 to credit card companies. “The findings are both striking and ominous,” says John Pottow, author of the study. “While multiple factors, such as health problems and medical debts, contribute to elders' financial distress, the dominant force appears to be overwhelming burdens related to credit cards.”

While the Obama administration has handed the Wall Street bankers trillions and the wealthy a massive tax cut, it has done nothing to provide relief to those losing their homes, income and life savings. A report last month by the Congressional Oversight Committee noted that the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program has produced negligible results. Only half a million mortgage holders got help to save their homes, at least temporarily, since the program began in March 2009. During that period nearly 4 million households received foreclosure notices with the Federal Reserve expecting another 4.25 million over the next two years.

The political establishment—dominated as it is by the representatives of the corporate and financial elite—is oblivious to the social catastrophe facing working people. Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, who received large donations from the credit card industry, was one of the most fervent Democratic supporters of the reactionary 2005 legislation, which made it more difficult for working class and middle-class families to escape their debt burdens, while awarding as much as $1 billion a year to creditors, mostly banks and credit card issuers.

Signing the bipartisan bill into law—just a few short years before both parties gave Wall Street the largest handout in history—President Bush declared, “America is a nation of personal responsibility, where people are expected to meet their obligations. If someone does not pay his or her debts, the rest of society ends up paying them.”

Consumer debt is consistent with bankruptcy filings

Research by the Federal Reserve indicates that household debt is at a record high relative to disposable income. Some analysts are concerned that this unprecedented level of debt might pose a risk to the financial health of American households. A high level of indebtedness among households could lead to increased household delinquencies and bankruptcies, which could threaten the health of lenders if loan losses are greater than anticipated.Use this page to list news articles and press releases favorable to your business. Here you might add a brief introduction. To add a new article, click the "Add an Article" button below.

(Source: American Bankruptcy Institute)

TOTAL BANKRUPTCY FILINGS UP 11 PERCENT THROUGH FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2010 WHILE BUSINESS FILINGS DECREASE
 
November 8, 2010 Alexandria, Va.— The 1,222,589 total U.S. bankruptcies filed for the first nine months of 2010 (Jan. 1 – Sept. 30) represented an 11 percent increase over the 1,100,035 cases filed over the same period in 2009, according to data released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Consumer filings totaled 1,179,573 for the first nine months of 2010 representing nearly a 12 percent increase over 1,054,525 filed during the same period in 2009. Bankruptcies have continued to increase since the 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code.
 
“As the economy looks to climb out of the recent recession, businesses and consumers continue to file for bankruptcy to regain their financial footing,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “With unemployment hovering near 10 percent and access to credit remaining tight, total filings in 2010 will likely exceed 1.6 million.”
 
The 43,016 business bankruptcies recorded during the first three quarters of 2010 (Jan. 1 – Sept. 30) represented nearly a 6 percent drop from the 45,510 business filings during the same period in 2009. Business filings during the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, totaled 13,957 filings, down 8 percent over the 15,177 business filings in 2009. Chapter 11 business filings decreased nearly 5 percent to 2,916 during the third quarter of 2010, compared to the 3,060 filings during the similar period in 2009. Chapter 7 business filings totaled 9,807 during the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, representing a 9 percent decrease over the 10,798 filings during the same period in 2009.

The 1,596,355 total filings for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, were up nearly 14 percent from the same period in 2009, which totaled 1,402,816. Nonbusiness filings for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, totaled 1,538,033, an increase of 14 percent from the 1,344,095 total nonbusiness filings calculated over the same period in 2009. However, business filings decreased slightly for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, as the 58,322 business filings were down nearly 1 percent from the 58,721 business petitions filed in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2009.

The 1,146,511 total chapter 7 filings for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, represent a 16 percent increase from the 989,227 filings from the same period in 2009. Total chapter 13 filings increased 9 percent to 434,839 in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, from 398,210 in the same period last year. In addition, total chapter 12 filings nearly doubled, increasing 45 percent from 487 in 2009 to 707 in 2010. Total chapter 11 filings fell, however, decreasing nearly 4 percent to 14,191 in 2010 from 14,745 in 2009.
 
The 412,380 total U.S. bankruptcies filed during the third quarter of 2010 (July 1 – Sept. 30) represented a 6 percent increase over the 388,485 cases filed over the same period in 2009. Consumer filings totaled 398,423 during the third quarter of 2010 (July 1-Sept. 30), representing a 7 percent increase over the 373,308 filed during the same period of 2009. Consumer chapter 7 filings during the 2010 third quarter totaled 280,006, an increase of 5 percent over the 2009 third quarter total of 265,721. Chapter 13 consumer filings also increased during the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, with the 117,893 filings, representing an 10 percent increase over the 107,142 filings during the same period in 2009.

BUSINESS FILINGS for the 3-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, totaled 13,957, down nearly 8 percent from the 15,177 bankruptcy business cases filed in the same period in 2009.

NON-BUSINESS FILINGS for the 3-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, increased 7 percent from 373,308 in 2009 to 398,423 in 2010.
 
The chapter  breakdown of BUSINESS filings for the 3-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, is: 9,807 chapter 7s, 2,916 chapter 11s, 202 chapter 12s and 1,011 chapter 13s.
 
The chapter breakdown of NON-BUSINESS filings for the 3-month period ending Sept. 30, 2010, is: 280,006 chapter 7s, 524 chapter 11s and 117,893 chapter 13s.

(Source: American Bankruptcy Institute) 

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