New Bankruptcy Law Bad for Disabled

Even though Congress included the words “Consumer Protection Act” in the name of this horrible new law, it is really a misnomer. There is not one single pro -consumer part of this law. Because of “means testing”, many middle class Americans will not be able to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The predatory credit card companies spread so much money through the halls of Congress that even moderate Democrats supported this unconscionable gift to these gluttonous money changers. President Bush signed the new law on Wednesday.
I went to a presentation last night by a Federal Bankruptcy Trustee who explained the new law. He was not impressed by this mean spirited legislation. As the Trustee said, there were provisions in the old law, that he frequently used, to stop the small minority of credit card abusers. The majority of my Workers Compensation and Social Security Disability clients never abused credit. They simply had the unfortunate luck to have been injured on the job or come down with a crippling illness, and now can’t pay the bills. Bottom Line – if you suddenly become disabled or lose your job and face mounting medical bills or can’t pay the mortgage, you may as well be in debtor’s prison. The old bankruptcy law gave hard working middle class Americans who fell on hard times a fresh start. Those days are over.