ABI: Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Increase in Third Quarter
The deep recession that has gripped the American economy for almost two years continues to take its toll on Main Street. “With unemployment surpassing 10 percent and credit to businesses remaining tight, consumers and businesses are increasingly turning to the financial relief of bankruptcy,” said Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute. There were 388,485 filings in the July-to-September period, up from 292,291 a year earlier and up 2 percent from the second quarter’s 381,073, according to data released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Filings in the third quarter were the most in a three-month period since the record 667,431 in the fourth quarter of 2005. Over 70% of the third quarter filings were chapter 7 cases.
Nevada had the highest per capita filing rate in the United States over the last year.
