U.S. Consumer Bankruptcies to Reach 1.6 Million This Year, Institute Says
Bankruptcy filings by U.S. consumers are projected to reach 1.6 million this year, the executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute said.
More U.S. consumers filed for bankruptcy through the first eight months of the year than for the same period in 2009, according to the institute. So far this year, about 1 million consumers have sought court protection from their debts, compared with about 920,000 at this time last year.
Bankruptcy filings fell 8 percent to 127,028 in August from the previous month, the institute reported.
“While monthly filings are volatile, consumer bankruptcies are still the highest they have been since Congress overhauled the bankruptcy law in 2005,” Samuel J. Gerdano, the institute’s executive director, said yesterday in an interview.
The information was based on data collected by the National Bankruptcy Research Center.
The decline in August follows a drop in applications for jobless benefits for the week ended Aug. 21. Claims dropped by 31,000, the first decline in a month, to 473,000, according to figures released Aug. 26 by the U.S. Labor Department.
To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware, at schurch3@bloomberg.net.
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