Attorney Find Blog

Those of you who practice bankruptcy law, or who have filed for bankruptcy protection, or who have simply taken the time to educate yourselves about the bankruptcy process have probably noticed a definite tendency in the mainstream media to mischaracterize the process and its outcome. For instance, despite the fact that numerous studies have indicated that, after the initial flood and then drop-off in bankruptcy filings before and after the October 2005 law change, there has been a steady increase in filings, newspaper headlines continue to scream “Bankruptcy filings have declined by more than 50%” and such.

And although most experts agree that while bankruptcy is more complicated, more time-consuming, and more expensive than it was before the “reform”, most data suggests that the actual impact in terms of qualifying for bankruptcy protection has been virtually non-existent–credit counseling agencies charged by the U.S. Trustee’s office with helping pre-bankruptcy candidates assess their options have indicated that fewer than 5% of them have any other realistic option.

Perhaps that’s not surprising in view of the size and power of the public relations machine controlled by the consumer credit industry–the industry that stands to gain the most is the average consumer in financial trouble believes that he can no longer file bankruptcy.

Even in view of all that, I was surprised to view a press release this morning that announced “Bankruptcy Won’t Stop Foreclosure for Troubled Borrowers”. A careful reading of the article reveals that the headline is ever-so-cautiously balanced on the obvious fact that bankruptcy won’t allow a homeowner to simply keep his home and stop making payments on it forever…a far cry from “won’t stop foreclosure”. Unfortunately, many consumers won’t read the article carefully, and will only absorb the misleading headline that gives the false impression that their options are more limited than they might have believed.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 5:57 am and is filed under Bankruptcy Law and Bankruptcy Lawyers, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.