Welcome to our Mini-Site!

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Welcome to our mini-website for Portland, Oregon bankruptcy. The attorneys of Baxter & Baxter, LLP, are dedicated advocates for consumers. Baxter & Baxter, LLP, is a Pacific Northwest consumer protection law firm with offices in Oregon and Washington. To visit our firm’s main website, visit www.baxterlaw.com.

The Oregon consumer protection lawyers of the Consumer Litigation Group represent individuals in cases with false credit reports, identity theft cases, unlawful debt collection cases, and consumer fraud cases. The Portland Oregon bankruptcy attorneys, Oregon City bankruptcy attorneys, Hillsboro, Oregon bankruptcy attorneys, and Vancouver Washington bankruptcy lawyers of the Bankruptcy Practice Group represent individuals in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Our mission of committed and zealous consumer advocacy is unrivaled, and our track record of excellence and professionalism is recognized nationwide.

This site includes an aggregation of news stories about business, finance, and politics that bears upon our consumer protection and bankruptcy practice. We hope you will find the stories interesting and useful.

“We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for relief under the Bankruptcy Code.”

New Bankruptcy Statistics From Vancouver WA Bankruptcy Court

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The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Oregon has just released new bankruptcy statistics for January through May of 2010. Consistent with filing patterns in other parts of the country, the high numbers of individuals filing for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy remains stable.

With the exception of May 2010, the monthly filings for Vancouver WA bankruptcy petitions has increased for each month from 2009. Clark County bankruptcy filings increased 15% for February 2010, 20% in March 2010, and 9% in April 2010. In May 2010, there was a slight drop in bankruptcy filings in Clark County, but this decrease was offset by a 20% increase in Cowlitz County bankruptcies, and increases for Pacific, Skamania and Wahkiakum Counties. Although the percentages for those counties are high, the real numbers of those lower populated counties is still a small percentage of the total filings in this district.

The gross number of filings has remained relatively stable from 2009 to 2010, however, 2008 and 2009 showed significant increases in bankruptcy filings over previous years. Accordingly, the trend remains high. The yearly filings for the Western District of Washington were as follows: 2000: 17665, 2001: 21850, 2002: 23397, 2003: 24398, 2004: 23402, 2005: 30165, 2006: 5791, 2007:7665, 2008:11439, 2009:18523. Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings also followed a similar trend, as follows: 2000: 4922, 2001: 4979, 2002: 5299, 2003: 5533, 2004: 5450, 2005: 5085, 2006: 2581, 2007: 3489, 2008: 4708, 2009: 5501. The statistics do not take into account cases that are dismissed or converted after filing.

It appears that there was a statistical blip in 2004, when the BAPCPA took effect and as filers believed that they would be precluded from filing in the future. However, as the housing bubble allowed consumers to borrow their way out of debt, filings in 2006 and 2007 fell precipitously. The financial crash and ensuing crisis caused those figures to rise exponentially through the current quarter. It leaves to be seen whether the trend will continue to rise, remain stable, or eventually correct itself.

Baxter & Baxter, LLP
1101 Broadway Street, Suite 213
Vancouver, WA 98660
(360) 574-5239
Vancouver WA Bankruptcy

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Baxter

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4545218

More Fined in Greenlight Case

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The FSA fined a former compliance officer at Greenlight Capital £130,000 for insufficient oversight in the sale of Punch Taverns shares ahead of a planned equity raising. A J.P. Morgan Cazenove employee was also fined.
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Eastman Chemical Buys Solutia

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Eastman Chemical agreed to acquire peer specialty-chemicals maker Solutia in a cash and stock deal valued at about $3.38 billion, a purchase it said will extend its global presence and stabilize margins.
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Greece Edges Toward Debt Deal

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Talks between Greece and its private-sector creditors edged toward an agreement, with bond holders seemingly willing to accept lower yields on their future holdings of Greek debt.
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The CEO Bankruptcy Bonus

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As companies struggle through bankruptcy court, many still pay significant bonuses to top executives – despite a federal rule designed to curb such pay.
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Stocks Fall on GDP Data

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U.S. stocks retreated, jeopardizing the market's chances for a fourth-straight weekly gain, after investors were disappointed by the most recent reading on domestic economic growth.
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Twitter Can Censor by Country

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Twitter says it can now make content selectively available to users based on geography, and plans to use that ability to enter countries with "different ideas" about freedom of expression as a human right.
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Foreclosure watch: In latest banking debacle, homeowners fight mortgages they thought they’d paid off

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"The reincarnating mortgage" is the latest evidence of a seriously dysfunctional, perhaps fraudulent, foreclosure system, experts say.

Reuters this week published a remarkable story about just how bad the foreclosure system has gotten. Entitled "Old mortgages rise from the dead," it tells how people who thought they'd sold off their mortgage or refinanced out of one now find themselves reported as delinquent to credit bureaus or facing lawsuits.

The story also does a good job of describing all the other problems and how they came to be. Reporter Michelle Conlin writes:

The problems grew from a lot of sloppy recordkeeping that began during the housing boom, when Wall Street built a quick-and-dirty back-office operation to process mortgages quickly so lenders could sell as many loans as possible. As the loans were later sold to investors, and then resold around the world, the back office system sidestepped crucial legal procedures.

Now it's becoming clear just how dysfunctional and, according to several state attorneys general, how fraudulent the whole system was.


The story has it all. Affidavit slaves. Robosigners. Faked, forged and backdated documents.

Oh, plus "the reincarnating mortgage:"

The reincarnating mortgage is only the latest development in the megabanks' mortgage debacle, a scandal that has made them the target of a mounting pile of investigations and lawsuits. 

It's a good reason why so many homeowners feel wronged by the big banks and why many eyes will be on Oregon Attorney General John Kroger as he reviews a proposed multi-billion-dollar settlement between state attorneys general and the nation's five largest servicers. Keep an eye here for more details. Other AGs are reviewing it as well. Already, California and Delaware reportedly have rejected the proposal.  


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