Bankruptcy Nationwide
Bankruptcy Nationwide and Recent Trends
In a statement made last April 2010 by David Jones, President of The Association of Independent Credit Counseling Agencies announced that more and more bankruptcy filings are occurring. There are fewer people that can be helped by credit counseling due to the depth of their indebtedness. It’s not that people don’t want to handle their debt, but many are incapable of being able to do so. Many homeowners who were in trouble, put off trying to handle their debt in hopes of getting help from mortgage assistance programs, but they never came through.
Filings Increase Nationwide
Last year, in February of 2010, the number of bankruptcy filings was up by 700 per day as opposed to the year before, specifically from 5,500 per day in 2010 to 6,200 per day. In March of last year, the filings were up by 900 filings per day as compared to the year before (6,000 per day in March 2009 to 6,900 per day in March 2010.) According to Robert Lawless, professor of law and bankruptcy expert at the University of Illinois located in Urban-Champaign, there is normally an increase in filings in February and March as people use their tax refund money to file and cover the filing fees.
California Filings Soared Last Year
Last year in California, filings were up by more than 40% over 2009. States that have high numbers of foreclosures and high unemployment rates are the ones having the most problems. In 2009, over 1.4 million personal bankruptcy petitions were filed nationwide and the numbers continue to rise.
The Largest Contributing Sources
One of the largest contributing sources of bankruptcy filings is the amount of outstanding credit that consumers have and the increasing unavailability of consumer credit. With banks being less willing to make loans, home equity drying up and credit card limits being cut or denied completely, people are being forced to start up more savings which may lessen the amount of bankruptcy filings in the future.
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