South Florida continued to see upward movement in the number of bankruptcy filings during June.
In the three-county area, personal bankruptcy filings were up 36 percent, to 3,105 from 2,275 in June 2009, and up 9 percent compared with May.
The number of business bankruptcies for the three counties in June was up 22 percent, to 141 cases from 116 a year earlier, and up 8 percent from May.
There were 59 new business bankruptcies in Broward County last month, up from 50 cases last year, and up 11 cases from last year. Personal bankruptcy filings in Broward rose 36 percent over last year, to 994 cases opened, and rose 8 percent compared to May.
Miami-Dade County saw a small dip in business bankruptcy filings. There were 44 new business bankruptcies there last month, down from 45 cases last year and 56 cases in May. Personal bankruptcy filings in Miami-Dade rose 52 percent over last year, to 1,640 cases opened, and rose 12 percent over May.
There were 38 new business bankruptcy filings in Palm Beach County in June, up from 21 cases last year and 27 cases in May. Personal bankruptcy filings in Palm Beach rose 19 percent over last year, to 47 cases opened, and remained flat compared to May.
The American Bankruptcy Institute reported June consumer filings nationwide totaled 126,270, or 8.5 percent more than the 116,365 consumer filings in June last year, but 7.8 percent less than the nationwide May 2010 total of 136,142 consumer filings.
"Years of rising consumer debt and low savings rates, combined with the housing and unemployment crises, are causing bankruptcy levels not seen since the 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code," ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano said. "We expect that there will be more than 1.6 million new bankruptcy filings by year-end."
