The number of personal bankruptcy petitions filed in U.S. federal courts has been dropping by an annual rate of 8.3%. According to CardWeb.com's CardData, the percentage of chargeoffs involving bankruptcy has declined from 42.3% to 37.2% over the past twelve months. The Administrative Office of the U.S Courts recently reported that personal bankruptcy filings have dropped from 1,378,071 for the year ending 3-31-99 to 1,263,096 for the year ending 3/31/00. For the first quarter 2000, there were 312,335 total bankruptcy filings compared to 330,784 for 1Q/99. The news comes amidst dimming hopes of passage of a new federal bankruptcy law. President Clinton indicated a few weeks ago he will veto the bankruptcy reform legislation in its current form.
BANKRUPTCY FILINGS BY CHAPTER
(for year ending March 31)
YEAR CHAP 7 CHAP 13
2000 908,802 381,568
1999 1,017,049 393,245
1998 1,007,213 404,749
1997 862,136 372,369
1996 665,310 300,901
1995 568,565 255,382
Source Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
