READING, PA, and VALLEY FORGE, PA, October 22, 2015 – Steven J. Adams and Paul H. Schieber, Stevens & Lee Shareholders, served as panelists at a Pennsylvania Credit Union Association Town Meeting held October 14, 2015, in Springfield, PA.
This panel presentation, “Troubled Debt Panel: Good Loans Gone Bad,” opened with an overview of troubled debt restructuring and the basics of modifications presented by the PCUA Audit and Compliance staff. Messrs. Adams and Schieber provided hypothetical examples of what can go wrong and the remedies credit unions might pursue to rehabilitate the loan. Also discussed were the first signs of trouble, lien position, judgment creditors, tax liens and foreclosure.
Mr. Adams concentrates his practice in the area of creditors’ rights, where he has represented a wide array of creditor clients over the last 25 years in all types of collection, consumer lending, litigation and bankruptcy matters. Mr. Adams’s clients include national, regional and local financial institutions, mortgage servicers, leasing companies, manufacturers and service providers, insurance companies, building material supply companies and landlords.
Mr. Adams routinely defends financial institutions and mortgage servicers in lending, mortgage and collection-related litigation involving alleged violations of the National Bank Act, the Truth in Lending Act (including HOEPA), the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act. Mr. Adams also defends clients against state law claims arising under Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law and under Pennsylvania’s mortgage and judgment satisfaction penalty statutes.
Mr. Adams also has extensive litigation experience with respect to collecting secured and unsecured debts in state, federal and bankruptcy courts. In state and federal court Mr. Adams routinely handles post-judgment matters involving insolvent debtors, such as bank account garnishments, sheriff’s sales of real and personal property, repossessions and evictions, discovery in aid of execution and fraudulent transfer litigation. He has extensive experience with Pennsylvania’s confession of judgment procedure and in locating and recovering concealed assets. On the bankruptcy side, Mr. Adams routinely defends his creditor clients against preference and fraudulent transfer claims and provides advice and representation with respect to all of the other issues that creditors face in any major bankruptcy case.
He has a J.D., cum laude, from The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University and a B.A. from Elizabethtown College.
Mr. Schieber represents banks, thrifts, credit unions, mortgage companies, finance companies, mortgage insurance companies and other financial services providers across the country, with particular focus on consumer finance, regulatory compliance and litigation defense matters.
Mr. Schieber presents regularly to national financial services and related service provider organizations, including the American Bankers Association, Pennsylvania Bankers Association, Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers, Pennsylvania Credit Union Association, Real Estate Settlement Providers Council (RESPRO), October Research and the American Conference Institute. He is widely published on banking and finance issues and is the co-author of The Lender’s Guide to Consumer Compliance and Anti-Discrimination Laws and the six volume Pratt’s State Regulation of Second Mortgages and Home Equity Loans and is the original author of the Allregs© State Law Compliance Module.
He is Past Chair of the Business Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. He has been recognized as one of the leading banking and finance lawyers in Pennsylvania by international legal research publisher Chambers & Partners. Mr. Schieber received a J.D. from Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, an M.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a B.A. from Columbia University and a B.H.L. from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
