US personal bankruptcy filings jumped 40 percent last year as a result of rising mortgage payments, job losses and other financial pressures.
The increase followed a sharp decline from a year earlier, when Congress passed a new law that made it more difficult for consumers to apply for bankruptcy-court protection from their creditors.
More than 800,000 personal bankruptcy filings were made last year, compared with more than 573,000 in 2006 -- the lowest level since 1998, data collected by the National Bankruptcy Research Center and published by the American Bankruptcy Institute, a research group in Alexandria, Virginia, showed.
TREND
Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, said in a statement that the trend is likely to worsen this year as consumers' high debt loads are "made worse by the home mortgage crisis."
Personal bankruptcy filings for most of this decade had been much higher -- around 1.5 million annually. But after an eight-year campaign by banks, retailers and credit card companies, Congress in 2005 passed the biggest changes in US bankruptcy laws in a quarter-century, mandating an income test to measure a debtor's ability to repay obligations.
Personal bankruptcy filings soared to more than 2 million in 2005, with more than 600,000 filings made in October, when the law went into effect.
CHAPTER 13
Consumers deemed to have insufficient assets or income can still eliminate debts through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. But those with income above their state's median income who can pay at least US$6,000 over five years are forced into Chapter 13, where a debt repayment plan is ordered.
Now the pendulum on bankruptcy law could swing the other way.
As defaults and foreclosures grow, Congressional Democrats have been pushing for an expansion of bankruptcy judges' authority to reduce the size of home loans. Under existing law, bankruptcy judges cannot modify loan terms on a bankrupt borrower's primary residence, but are permitted to do so for mortgages on second homes.
Democrats say legislation allowing judges to do so could help more than 500,000 homeowners avoid foreclosure, while Republicans and the mortgage industry say expanding this power would make lenders far more reluctant to extend home loans.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
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‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)