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Jeff Horwitz, American Banker, 01-10-2012

http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_7/jpmorgan-chase-consumer-debt-collection-1045606-1.html?zkPrintable=1&nopagination=1

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has quietly ceased filing lawsuits to collect consumer debts around the nation, dismissing in-house attorneys and virtually shutting down a collections machine that as recently as nine months ago was racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly judgments.

A sampling of court records in the major cities in five states shows that Chase collection suits have virtually disappeared. In a sixth state, Illinois, contract attorneys continue to file small-dollar cases, though at a reduced rate.

It is unclear whether Chase has stopped pursuing collection on many claims nationwide, or if intends to pursue the debts in some other fashion. The bank has not explained its apparent moratorium and declined comment.

Chase’s halt does, however, follow scattered defeats in state courts and a whistle-blower’s allegation that it falsely overstated the balances of thousands of delinquent accounts it sold to a third party. Former Chase employees and debt collection experts insist that the bank would not have abruptly retreated from its collections efforts in the absence of trouble.

In a sign that Chase acted with urgency, numerous regional collections teams were fired in mid-2011 at the order of the New York bank’s headquarters, according to people familiar with the events.

“Nobody told anybody anything. It was very traumatic,” says a former Chase attorney who asked to remain anonymous because of a nondisclosure agreement. “I think there were investigations by the [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and other government entities. If we’re not there, we can’t be interviewed.”

The OCC declined to comment. Chase declined to say whether its moves were related to government investigations or legal concerns. In an email to American Banker, a spokesman for the bank called its collection strategy “proprietary.”

Chase and other credit card issuers have historically filed lawsuits to compel consumers to repay defaulted loans. Such suits typically involve only a few thousand dollars each, but en masse add up; Chase recovered $1.4 billion from defaulted credit card accounts last year, according to its financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Not all of that necessarily came from judgments.)

Jerry Salzberg, a lawyer who represents debt collectors and banks in the Chicago area, was familiar with Chase’s dismissed Illinois collections attorneys, whom he describes as experienced, productive and profitable.

“Someone from New York brought in the three lawyers, kicked them out with no warning and dismissed all their cases,” Salzberg says. “These were people who were by the book. … If they weren’t the most profitable [of Chase's regional collection teams], they sure as hell were making a lot of money for the bank. … Obviously something happened.”

Chase collections cases have dropped off sharply in Illinois in recent months, in addition to disappearing in five other states, an American Banker review indicates. The review focused on California, Florida Maryland, New York and Washington, where local court records are electronically searchable.

In Dade County, Florida, which includes Miami, Chase filed 640 collections claims in January 2011, most seeking between $3,000 and $12,000. On Jan. 4 alone it filed suits seeking over $200,000, which represents a rate of $50 million annually.

But in April of last year, Chase ceased filing claims altogether in Dade County. That month, The Wall Street Journal first reported that Chase had dropped “more than a thousand” consumer debt cases around the country. Some contract attorneys cited documentation irregularities for the move, the paper reported.

Robo-signing, or the high-volume production of signed legal documents, has been a key element of the governmental and media foreclosure reviews. Chase’s current pullback raises at least the possibility that at least some banks may have documentation problems in other business lines.

Academics and attorneys who defend consumers against debt claims have leveled their heaviest criticism at collection agencies rather than banks themselves. The agencies allegedly seek on a regular basis to collect debts in the absence of legitimate documentation. Efforts to collect a bank’s own debt generally have been regarded by consumer advocates as more credible than those by collections agencies, which pursue secondhand claims.

“If sloppy record keeping and problems with false affidavits is a problem with mortgages, it’s 100 times bigger in credit card accounts,” says Michelle Weinberg of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. Even so, Weinberg says, “On documentation issues, it wouldn’t occur to me that Chase wouldn’t be able to prove up its own account.”

So far judges have questioned the validity of banks’ own consumer debt records in only a few low-profile cases. However, a whistle-blower claim settled last year raises further questions.

Linda Almonte, a former team leader in Chase’s San Antonio credit card services division, accused the bank of firing her for objecting to the sale of $200 million in legal judgments obtained by bank attorneys. Half the accounts lacked adequate documentation of judgment and one-sixth listed the wrong amounts owed, Almonte claimed in a suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

In its response, Chase did not dispute inaccuracies in the debt balances and documentation. Instead, it said its sales agreement allowed for errors and thus was proper. “[T]he parties explicitly agreed that the judgments were purchased ‘as is’ and “with all faults,” Chase’s attorney wrote.

Chase was unsuccessful in getting the case dismissed and settled it on undisclosed terms last April; it ceased filing new consumer debt lawsuits in many states the same month.

Should Chase stop pursuing such claims for any reason, the move could prove costly. The threat of litigation has an unquantifiable but significant influence on consumers’ decisions to pay off their debts. What’s more, even partial recoveries can be substantial and may already be declining as the result of Chase’s pullback. After recouping $405 million in the first quarter of 2011, Chase’s recoveries fell to $321 million in the second quarter and $266 million in the third quarter.

It is hard to say whether the absence of new suits has contributed to the decline. Credit card recoveries tend to be volatile and lag writeoffs. In the absence of its own collections activities, Chase could also be recouping money selling delinquent loans to collections agencies who then seek recoveries on their own. But a search for defendants in 10 cases that Chase dropped this spring did not uncover any surrogate claims.

http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_7/jpmorgan-chase-consumer-debt-collection-1045606-1.html

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Agustín Álvarez (* 1857-1914) fue un sociólogo, moralista y educador argentino que se destaca en la denominada generación del ochenta, en el siglo XIX.

Agustín Álvarez nace el 15 de julio de 1857 en la ciudad de Mendoza. En el terremoto de 1861 mueren sus padres y familiares directos y se salva junto a su hermano gemelo Jacinto.

En 1870 comienza sus estudios secundarios en el Colegio Nacional de Mendoza, institución que luego llevaría su nombre. En 1876 ingresa al Colegio Militar de la Nación ante la imposibilidad económica de realizar estudios de Medicina, que reconoce como su verdadera vocación.

En 1888 se recibe de abogado y se casa con Agustina Venzano, con quien tuvo seis hijos. En 1890 dicta clases de filosofía y nociones de derecho en el Colegio Nacional. Comienza a publicar artículos en El Debate, periódico de Mendoza. En 1892 es electo diputado nacional por la Provincia de Mendoza. Reside periódicamente en Buenos Aires en donde publica artículos en el Diario Tribuna.

Fallece en 1914 luego de padecer una parálisis cerebral. Sus restos se encuentran en el la bóveda de Agustín Verzano y familia, en el Cementerio de la Recoleta de Buenos Aires.

[editar] Obra literaria

Son sus obras principales: “South America” (1894), “Manual de patología política” (1899), “Ensayo sobre Educación” (1901), “¿Adónde vamos?” (1902), “La evolución del espíritu humano” (1905), “La transformación de las razas de América” (1908), “Historia de las Instituciones libres” (1909), “Breve Historia de la Provincia de Mendoza” (1910), “La creación del mundo moral” (1913). “La herencia moral de los pueblos hispanoamericanos” (1919) y numeroso folletos sobre problemas políticos, sociológicos y éticos.

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Editorial Review – Reed Business Information (c) 2004

Given daily terror alerts and news reports of violence, Robin, professor of political science and contributor to the New York Times Magazine, offers a sober analysis of fear’s Janus-faced potential as catalyst for economic progress and the raison d’ tre of repressive regimes. A brilliant synthesis of historical perspective and the critically revealing story of “Fear, American Style,” the account explores the classics of political thought by Hobbes, Montesquieu and Tocqueville and the portrayal of evil by Arendt in order to locate fear as the decisive underpinning of contemporary liberal theory. In doing so, Robin argues for the groundlessness of, on one hand, a “liberalism of anxiety” that perceives society as a debate over communities of identity and difference with low emphasis on social cohesion, while on the other hand a “liberalism of terror” that turns to abject evil as the summum malum grounding for morality. For Robin, both of these descriptions of political realities ignore the subtle threats fear wages in our everyday lives, most notably in the workplace. The closing chapters document how the Constitution and federalism’s factionalist orientation aid that everyday fear. Conceived of before 9/11, but inclusive of its results, Robin’s analysis predicts that when the war on terror does end, “we will find ourselves still living in fear.” (Oct.)

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Spelling suggestions: Lilith, Lilli th, Lilli-th, Lilliput, Lillian, Lillie, Lilli, Lithium, Loincloth

From English (GB) Morphology

Spelling suggestions: Lilliput, Lillian, Lilley, Lilly, Lithium, Sailcloth

From English Wikipedia

This article is about the demoness Lilith. For other uses, see Lilith (disambiguation).

Lilith (1892) by John Collier in Southport Atkinson Art Gallery

Lilith (Hebrew: ??????; lilit, or lilith) is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud (completed between 500 and 700 AD/CE), who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons L?l??u in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy (1997) notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view of these demons. Two sources of information previously used to define Lilith are both suspect."[1] The two problematic sources are the Gilgamesh appendix and the Arslan Tash amulets, which are discussed below.[2]

In Jewish folklore, from the 8th–10th Century Alphabet of Ben Sira onwards Lilith becomes Adam’s first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as Adam. This contrasts with Eve, who was created from one of Adam’s ribs. The legend was greatly developed during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism.[3] In the 13th Century writings of Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen, for example, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael.[4] The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy, and horror.

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Brian O’Leary

NASA Astronaut

Nationality American

Status Retired

Born January 27, 1940

Boston, Massachusetts

Died July 28, 2011 (aged 71)

Vilcabamba, Ecuador

Other occupation Scientist

Time in space None

Selection 1967 NASA Group

Missions None

Brian Todd O’Leary (January 27, 1940 – July 28, 2011) was an American scientist, author, and former NASA astronaut. He was a member of the sixth group of astronauts selected by NASA in August 1967. The members of this group of eleven were known as the scientist-astronauts, intended to train for the Apollo Applications Program – a follow-on to the Apollo Program, which was ultimately canceled. In later life he became an advocate of utilizing exotic energy sources to resolve humanity’s energy problems.

Check out his web pagee

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By Declan Kearney

It is1963, South Africa is in crisis and the white state is under siege. On 19th August, the dreaded Security Police swoop on the Griggs bookstore in downtown Durban and arrest Eleanor, the daughter of the manageress. They threaten to ‘break her or hang her’ if she does not lead them to her lover, ‘Red’ Ronnie Kasrils, who is wanted on suspicion of involvement in recent acts of sabotage, including the toppling of electricity pylons and explosions at a Security Police office in Durban.

Though she comes under intense pressure during interrogation, Eleanor has her own secret to conceal. She has been acting as a clandestine agent for the underground ANC and must protect her handlers and Ronnie at all costs. Astutely, she convinces the police that she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and, still a prisoner, is sent off to a mental hospital in Pietermaritzburg for assessment. It is here that she plots her escape.

Ronnie Kasrils’s The Unlikely Secret Agent provides an insight to the earliest days of the armed struggle in South Africa and the workings of the embryonic African National Congress underground through four of the earlier years in the life of his wife, Eleanor.

Ronnie recounts in the preface how they spoke months prior to her sudden death in November 2009 about jointly writing the story of this period in their lives.

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