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.