Americans continue to head to bankruptcy court in record numbers. Over the past five years, more than five million consumers have filed a Chapter 7 or full liquidation bankruptcy. Over the same period two million Americans have filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Furthermore, bankruptcy filings for the twelve-month period ending June 30th hit an all-time high of 1.65 million, a 10% increase over the same period in 2002. Chapter 7 filings hit 1.17 million and Chapter 13 filings approached 500,000 over the past twelve months. According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the total number of bankruptcy filings during the second quarter were 440,257, a 9.9% increase over 2Q/02. The 2Q/03 data was a high for quarterly filings.
ANNUAL FILINGS BY BANKRUPTCY CHAPTER
(for year ending June 30th)
Year Chap. 7 Chap. 13
2003 1,165,993 472,811
2002 1,053,230 440,231
2001 972,659 403,418
2000 885,447 380,770
1999 993,414 389,004
Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
