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After a year-long recession, more and more consumers are heading to bankruptcy court for relief. Over the past two months more than 206,000 consumers have made filings with total filings for 2008 expected to be around 1.1 million, the highest figure since Congress changed the bankruptcy laws in 2005. The American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Bankruptcy Research Center reports that U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings rose 39% year-over-year in November. However, the total of 99,925 for November represented a slight decrease from the October total of 106,266. "Chapter 13" filings constituted 33% percent of all consumer cases in November, a slight increase from October. According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, filings in the 12-month period ending June 30th neared the one million mark. The 967,831 bankruptcy cases filed represent a 29% increase over the prior 12-month period. Of the total filings 64% were Chapter 7 filings. Consumer filings for the same 12-month period, totaled 934,009, up 28% from the 727,167 bankruptcies filed in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2007.
BANKRUPTCY FILINGS Jan 08: 66,050 Feb 08: 76,120 Mar 08: 86,165 Apr 08: 92,291 May 08: 91,214 Jun 08: 82,770 Jul 08: 94,124 Aug 08: 96,413 Sep 08: 88,663 Oct 08: 106,266 Nov 08: 99,925
