It is no secret that creditors want to be paid. Perhaps in a perfect world every debt would be paid in full and on time. Unfortunately, life happens and sometimes individuals are not able to pay their debts. Creditors are aware of this and try to protect themselves with binding contracts and agreements. One clause that regularly appears is the “bankruptcy waiver.” The debtor agrees that he or she will not discharge the debt in a future bankruptcy case.

Waivers of future bankruptcy rights are not enforceable. In drafting the bankruptcy code, Congress expressly stated that the bankruptcy discharge voids judgments and operates as an injunction against the continuation of any action against a debtor personally, “whether or not discharge of such debt is waived.” See 11 U.S.C. § 524(a)(1) and (2). The revision notes explain that this language is “intended to prevent waiver of discharge of a particular debt from defeating the purposes of this section.”

Congress found that it is against public policy to allow waivers of future bankruptcy rights. To do so woul

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The use of the word strike to mean that a business deal has been consummated goes back to horse traders in Ireland slapping hands when a price was agreed on. In today’s world of traders the strike price is the agreed upon price of futures, commodities, or options contracts. This price differs from the current price of the underlying stock or commodity which is called the spot price. It is the divergence of spot price from strike price that leads to profit and loss in buying and selling options or trading futures. Understanding the moving relationship between strike price and spot price is a key to understanding the stock market.

The strike price stays put while the stock market, commodity market, or futures market move in response to the news of the day, fundamental analysis projections, and technical stock trading. This price is what a contract will be settled at, whether trading is European style in which contracts are settled at expiration or United States style in which the buyer of an options contract can exercise the contract at any point during the contract’s term. So, Full article…

Organizations representing restaurants, retailers and gas stations joined a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve that challenges debit card transaction fee limits required under recent federal legislation. According to court documents filed this month, lead plaintiff NACS (formerly the National Association of Convenience Stores) asserts that the specific rules implemented by the Fed fail to adhere to language set forth in the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act. That law requires banks to set “reasonable and proportional” rates to cover the cost of electronic transactions and fraud prevention, but left the Fed in charge of choosing those rates.

The battle over debit card transaction fees after Dodd-Frank’s passage pitted banks against merchants, who claimed that percentage-based transaction fees on debit card purchases left many smaller retailers in the red on common grocery, fast food and gasoline purchases.

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A recent Wall Street Journal article looks at deficiency judgments, which are court orders that banks can get to force homeowners to pay the difference between what the home sells for and what remains owed on the loan.

This is a terrifying prospect. A homeowner loses his or her job and is forced to stop making payments on a home they want to keep. The bank is unwilling to modify their mortgage, so they’re stuck.

Without notice, some months later, they get a phone call or a letter. It’s the bank telling them a judge signed off on a deficiency judgment against them. This is after the bank took back their house, sold it at auction for significantly less that what was owed, and now wants the difference in the loan paid to them.

This is happening with great frequency as banks are unable to cope with the losses from home loans gone bad nationwide.

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Many people today have enjoyed the benefits of applying for auto loans and they have their vehicles to show for that. However, before you even think of applying, you need to know a thing or two about these loans. For starters, remember that car loans are not awarded to minors. Therefore, an applicant must be 18 years old and above. But that does not mean that a student cannot secure a loan. If he or she is below eighteen, there is need for a co-signer to help out in the acquisition of the auto loans. Even with that, the individual should also have a legitimate drivers license.

Secondly, beware that not all easy terms that you will come across are perfectly good. Most of the lenders offering such terms are in it for a quick money and they use the knowledge that many borrowers are also in serious financial need at the time. The down payment is usually high and the interest rates too.

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Watch this video when you get a chance.

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After launching the registration exercise in which 740,000 tax preparers thus far has participated, now the IRS is contemplating fingerprinting the preparers in its ongoing bid to further regulate what IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman called ‘unscrupulous preparers’. Each fingerprinting will cost between $60 and $90.
The IRS has made it a rule that all paid tax preparers including CPAs, tax attorneys and enrolled agents must register themselves and obtain their Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). According to IRS statistics, more than 60% of tax preparers do not fall into the above three groups. These ones will also be subject to a compulsory competency test, which is not required for CPAs, tax attorneys and enrolled agents. So far, so good.

But when it comes to fingerprinting tax preparers, it may be another ball game altogether simply because of the intimate personal nature of the exercise. The

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