TBW Bankruptcy: Unsecured Creditor Funds May Be Available

In filing its petition for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., Ocala, Fla. indicated its bankruptcy estates might have funds available to distribute to unsecured creditors. The filing was made on Aug. 24 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville. A statement from the company said it will operate on a scaled-down basis, and it could possibly liquidate its assets. Neil Luria of Navigant Capital Advisors has been named chief restructuring officer, while two directors, Bill Maloney and Bruce Layman, will direct TBW's business. The TBW statement recounted the timeline involving the suspension of its origination activities, adding that on Aug. 6, the now-failed Colonial Bank suspended approximately 100 TBW bank accounts, creating problems for the company in terms of processing borrower payments and making insurance and tax payments on their behalf. TBW said it is in discussions with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. "in hopes that this circumstance can be remedied immediately." A copy of the petition, which was obtained courtesy of Bankruptcy Creditors' Service Inc., Fairless Hills, Pa., contains over 2,900 creditors listed. The company checked off that it had over $1 billion in assets and $1 billion in liabilities. The company also checked off the box that stated it believed funds from the bankruptcy estate would be available to distribute to the unsecured creditors.