Even the US Trustee Has an Occasional "Credit Crunch"

On January 14, 2008, the US Trustee announced that it has suspended audits of consumer debtors. While consumer advocates have criticized the audits as overzealous and unnecessary, the temporary end of audits occured for a simple (if somewhat, ironic, reason)--the US Trustee is out of money. The 2008 Appropriations Act didn't provide any funding for debtor audits, and consequently the US Trustee has stopped the audits. While the Financial Services Roundtable, a credit industry lobby group, says "nobody" benefits when the watchdog is taken off the job, I suspect many in the consumer bankruptcy bar will applaud the audits' current status as an unfunded mandate.