Americans Begin Paying Credit Cards First, Mortgages Second [CHART]

The only additional thing the law required

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No.

There's a long list of additional things, including means testing and something that's akin to 'mandatory sentencing­', which restricts bankruptcy judges' discretion­.  

The people you know who went bankrupt "a few years back" sound like they went bankrupt prior to this new law.  What got protected was a portion of their homes' equity (very small amount, back when in order to purchase a house you had to put a minimum of 20% of the asking price as a downpaymen­t) as 'homestead­ing'.   
About The Recession
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