ABI Endowment Awards New Grant to Study Credit Counseling

ABI Endowment Awards New Grant to Study Credit Counseling

Contact: John Hartgen
             703-739-0800
             [email protected]

ABI ENDOWMENT FUND AWARDS NEW GRANT TO STUDY CREDIT COUNSELING


May 19, 2008 Alexandria, Va. -- The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) Endowment Fund has awarded a $17,500 grant to researchers studying the effectiveness of credit counseling. The Coalition for Consumer Bankruptcy Debtor Education and Dr. Richard L. Wiener, director of the Law and Psychology Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, were awarded the grant – matched by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Endowment – to compare traditional credit counseling with the pre-bankruptcy counseling required as a precondition for bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of the 2005 (BAPCPA). The grant expands upon a $32,000 study funded by the Consumer Protection and Education Fund (the Sears Fund) in late 2006 to study pre-bankruptcy counseling.


Traditional credit counseling and the pre-bankruptcy counseling required as a precondition for bankruptcy under BAPCPA have important differences, including counseling sessions with different characteristics, economics and educational goals. The combined study will double the sample size, thus enhancing the value of the findings to regulators such as the Internal Revenue Service and Executive Office for U.S. Trustees, Congress, academics and the consumer public.
 
The ABI Endowment Fund was created in 1989 to provide a secure financial base for the Institute and to provide resources for insolvency research and education. Projects eligible for Endowment funding include research by individuals or entities relating to bankruptcy or insolvency; surveys or other analytical investigation; the education of judges, court personnel, other governmental personnel and the general public; scholarships or other educational grants; support for the Robert M. Zinman Resident Scholar; and support for both the Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Memorial Moot Court Competition and ABI’s Corporate Restructuring Competition. Since 1998, the Fund has awarded nearly $750,000 in grants. Learn more about the ABI Endowment fund by visiting http://www.abiworld.org/contribute.

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 11,700 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.