Debt

Maryland regulators and courts grappled Friday with the chaos created by the failure of a debt-collection law firm, as consumers endeavored - often with no luck - to figure out where to send payments or make good on court-ordered settlements. Rockville-based Mann Bracken recently closed its 24 offices across the country with little public warning, prompting consumers left in the lurch to complain to state officials that the firm's phones were disconnected and it had stopped cashing their checks.

KEYW Corp., a Hanover-based defense contractor that offers cybersecurity and counterterrorism solutions to government agencies, said Monday that it will sell 6.5 million shares of stock in a new public offering to raise money to pay down debt and complete a recently announced company acquisition. The publicly traded company said last week that it intended to acquire Poole & Associates Inc., of Annapolis Junction, for $126 million in cash and stock. The company last week also announced the acquisition of Sensage Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., for nearly $35 million in cash and stock.

NEW YORK -- The financial troubles at American Express widened yesterday, as Moody's Investors Service downgraded the rating on about $7 billion in the company's long-term debt. It was the first time in American Express Co.'s history that any of its debt was downgraded by Moody's.The rating service took the action because of problems in American Express's credit business and because the company faces growing competition.Though the downgrading will raise some financing costs, the action did not affect the company's short-term debt, which could have hurt American Express' ability to raise money to finance daily operations.

Capping off 1994 with the largest downtown commercial real estate transaction of the year, the Yarmouth Group Inc. has acquired the debt on the 26-story 250 W. Pratt St. office tower.The Dec. 31 transaction, estimated at $32 million by executives familiar with the sale, could signal the start of a recovery for the languishing city market, as institutional investors typically makeinvestments which provide solid returns."Baltimore is a major city, and we believe the market there is strengthening," said Ed Meyer, senior vice president at Yarmouth, a New York-based pension fund adviser.

Fidelity Investments reports that 70 percent of the Class of 2013 leaves college with on average $35,200 in debt. That's all kinds of debt, from student loans and money owed to Mom and Dad to credit card balances. And half of 2013 graduates say they are surprised how much debt they have accumulated, despite so much publicity on the subject, the Boston-based financial company said in its study released last week. The study found that 39 percent of grads - a jump of 14 percentage points over two years ago - said they might have made different decisions had they realized they would have a debt hangover.

The investors who bought Fair Lanes Inc. in a 1989 leveraged buyout yesterday proposed swapping 90 percent of the company's stock in exchange for slashing $138 million in debt to $75 million."

Maryland's highest court on Wednesday approved changes to a set of rules that require debt collectors to provide greater proof that they are entitled to sue consumers, according to a Baltimore-based legal advocacy group. The Maryland Court of Appeals agreed to revise three rules of the Maryland Rules of Procedure that will, in part, force companies that buy past-due consumer debts — and attempt to collect by suing — to present sufficient evidence to back up their claims, said Jonathan F. Harris, an attorney with the Public Justice Center.

It was once the darling of the growth crowd, thanks to skilled and aggressive management that pushed earnings -- and share price -- higher. Then came the recession, compounded by an overbuilt industry and a pile of debt.Today the stock of the Marriott Corp., although up from its low, languishes. Headquartered in Bethesda, Marriott carries a burden of more than $3 billion in debt, mainly because of the poor real estate market related to its hotel business. Additionally, the hotel business itself is weak, although Marriott fills more rooms than its competitors.

In his commentary ("Difficult choices await on spending, debt," June 15) Sen. Mitch McConnell talks of the "need to develop a plan that reins in our debt without raising taxes …" Well, since about a third of the federal budget is on borrowed money, the only way we can stop increasing debt without increasing taxes is to cut the federal budget by a third: defense, Medicare, Social Security, subsidies, all cut by a third. Mike Brown, Columbia