New Bankruptcy Law – Where’s the Consumer Protection?

The purpose of the new legislation, is to eliminate “bankruptcy of convenience". Sponsors of the bill allege that most consumer bankruptcy cases involve irresponsible spenders who have shopped or gambled their money away and now do not wish to pay their creditors. They rightly point out that bankruptcy costs the credit card companies billions of dollars each year and that those costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher interest rates. By making it harder for those with problem debt to file for bankruptcy, legislators say that more people will pay their bills, the credit card companies will save billions of dollars, and the resulting savings will be passed on to consumers in the form of lower interest rates.

The bill is lengthy, but key points are as follows:

In short, most consumers are no longer protected from job loss or illness by being able to file under Chapter 7 and they will have less help from competent attorneys due to the new liability provision of the bill. There is little to “protect" consumers in the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act. The sole benefit for consumers resulting from this bill will be lower interest rates and fees from the credit card companies, who will save billions of dollars as a result of this legislation. Of course, should the credit card companies choose to keep the savings, rather than pass them on to their customers, then consumers will be left with no benefit or “protection" at all.