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	<title>Seattle Debt Law Blog</title>
	<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog</link>
	<description>Bankruptcy, foreclosure, and debt help for Seattle-area consumers</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:24:24 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Elizabeth Warren as the first head of the CFPB?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[That&#8217;s the rumor in Washington, says the Wall Street Journal. That would certainly be a welcome development, if true.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2010/07/06/elizabeth-warren-as-the-first-head-of-the-cfpb/</link>
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		<title>Carper Amendment Passes, Gutting Financial Reform Bill</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Congress will try to tell you that it is on the verge of passing major reform that will help consumers and avoid &#8220;too big to fail&#8221; and other sound bites that the public will think are important. What the press and Congress will fail to tell you is that yesterday they gutted any real reform [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2010/05/19/carper-amendment-passes-gutting-financial-reform-bill/</link>
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		<title>And Speaking of Payday Lenders&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[From today&#8217;s Washington Post: Payday lenders and check cashers fight financial reform legislation in Congress Payday lenders and check cashers blanketed Capitol Hill last week to challenge the scope of the financial reforms under debate in Congress and combat the industry&#8217;s reputation as the pariahs of the financial system. During the &#8220;Hill Blitz&#8221; organized by [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2010/05/12/and-speaking-of-payday-lenders/</link>
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		<title>I Am Elmer J. Fudd, Millionaire. I Own a Mansion And a Yacht.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you have seven and a half minutes to kill, check out this great look at the payday lending industry from MSNBC&#8217;s The Rachel Maddow Show. The segment focuses on Allan Jones, CEO of Check into Cash, the national payday lending chain I&#8217;ve taken to court (and beaten!). Jones is a piece of work. In [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2010/05/09/i-am-elmer-j-fudd-millionaire-i-own-a-mansion-and-a-yacht/</link>
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		<title>Debt Negotiation vs. Bankruptcy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I often have clients come to me and ask me to help them renegotiate their debts without filing bankruptcy. In many cases I can and do help people reduce the principal amounts they owe to their creditors through direct negotiation. One important thing a lot of people don&#8217;t realize, though, is that the IRS treats [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2010/04/27/debt-negotiation-vs-bankruptcy/</link>
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		<title>The Elephant In the Room</title>
		<description><![CDATA[With bank seizures of foreclosed homes at record levels, the Obama administration continues to treat bankruptcy court as the proverbial elephant in the room. As this New York Times editorial observes, the administration&#8217;s Pollyanna-ish belief in the willingness of banks to voluntarily modify principal balances for homeowners facing foreclosure has led to a standoff between [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2010/04/20/the-elephant-in-the-room/</link>
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		<title>Consumer Protection in America: Go Big or Go Home</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In case you haven&#8217;t heard, the House of Representatives passed a bill in December 2009 calling for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, an independent federal agency solely devoted to protecting Americans from unfair and abusive financial products and services.  Now the Senate is kicking around proposals of their own, as discussed in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2010/03/03/consumer-protection-in-america-go-big-or-go-home/</link>
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		<title>Up in ARMs (Adjustable Rate Mortgages, that is)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s a lot like waiting in line for a ride at Disneyland: you wait for 45 minutes, turn a corner, and find yourself at the end of another long line. Just when we thought we finally hit the bottom of the housing market, there appears to be an entirely new level on the horizon: a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2009/08/31/up-in-arms-adjustable-rate-mortgages-that-is/</link>
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		<title>Mortgage Servicers Not Motivated to Help with Modifications</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Having trouble modifying your mortgage?  You’re not alone.  The New York Times recently reported that mortgage servicing companies have little interest in helping troubled homeowners lower their monthly payments because of the “lucrative fees” they can collect on delinquent loans.  According to the Times article, the Obama administration’s foreclosure program, which provides a $1,000 incentive [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2009/08/31/mortgage-servicers-not-motivated-to-help-with-modifications/</link>
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		<title>Cramdown Bill Coming Back?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Maybe so, according to Bloomberg (via the P-I&#8216;s real estate blog): House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank threatened to revive the mortgage “cram- down” bill that stalled in Congress this year, saying lenders aren’t being aggressive enough in modifying troubled home loans. Cram-downs let federal judges lengthen terms, cut interest rates and reduce mortgage [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.seattledebtlaw.com/blog/2009/07/30/cramdown-bill-coming-back/</link>
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