In March, 2010 more individuals and businesses filed for bankruptcy than in any month since October 2005, when federal bankruptcy laws were made more restrictive. There were 158,141 U.S. bankruptcy petitions filed last month -- a 35% increase over February's figure, according to data compiled by Automated Access to Court Records (AACER). This was a 19% increase over the number in October 2009, the last record-high month.
In the first quarter of 2010, the rate of personal bankruptcy filings in a dozen states increased by double-digit percentages over 2009's monthly averages. "What is surprising is that there are still hefty increases in states like Arizona, California and Florida," says AACER president Mike Bickford, referring to the fact that it might seem that the worst would be over in states hard-hit by the housing bubble. "Intuitively, you would think there might be some leveling off in these states, but that is not the case. In addition, there were large increases in bankruptcy filings in the Midwest, especially Michigan and Illinois."
But many law scholars are not surprised by Americans' mad rush to bankruptcy court. Adjusted for inflation, personal borrowing in the U.S. is 10 times greater than in 1960, according to the Federal Reserve. "Now, consumer credit has dried up," says law professor Robert Lawless, an expert on bankruptcy among sole proprietors and small entrepreneurs at the University of Illinois. "That is why people are ending up in bankruptcy court."
Katherine M. Porter, a bankruptcy expert at the University of Iowa and the University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall Law School, says people typically "seriously struggle" with their debt for two years before turning to bankruptcy.
The statistics show that Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings are rising faster than the more complex Chapter 13 filings. While the latter requires individuals to repay a substantial portion of their debt and prevents banks from foreclosing on their homes, Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows a debtor to wipe out his or her debts entirely and get a fresh start. "It is very fast and very deep debt restructuring," says Porter. Since 2005, Chapter 13 filings have dropped from about 35% of all personal bankruptcy filings to 25%, she says. "Systemically, that's a big change."
That change suggests that more home owners are simply walking away from their mortgages, rather than attempting to make payments, especially during a recession with record-high long-term unemployment. "Chapter 13 was designed for regular economic times when people might lose their jobs and fall behind on their mortgage for three to four months, but having found a new job they would be able to use the Chapter 13 process to keep their homes," says Porter, noting that even during normal economic times only 1 in 3 Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings results in the individual's successful meeting of payment obligations.
Contact Steven Peck's Premier Legal toll free at 1.866.999.9085 to talk to an experienced California Bankruptcy Attorney and visit us on-line at www.premierlegal.org.
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Contact Steven Peck's Premier Legal toll free at 1.866.999.9085 to talk to an experienced California Bankruptcy Attorney and visit us on-line at www.premierlegal.org.
