Contact: John Hartgen
703-739-0800
MAY CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY FILINGS INCREASE
NEARLY 31 PERCENT OVER PREVIOUS YEAR
June 5, 2008, Alexandria, Va.- U.S. consumer
bankruptcy filings increased 30.9 percent nationwide in May from the
same period a year ago, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute
(ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center
(NBKRC). The overall May consumer filing total of 91, 214 was down
slightly by 1.2 percent from the 92,291 filings recorded in April.
Chapter 13 filings constituted 31.9 percent of all consumer cases in
May, a slight increase from April.
“At current trends, we project that new bankruptcies will
exceed the milestone of one million cases this year,” said ABI
Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “This would
be the first year reaching a million filings since Congress restricted
access to bankruptcy in 2005.”
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency.
ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased
analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than
11,700 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders,
turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a
forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional
information on ABI, visit
href='http://www.abiworld.org/'>www.abiworld.org. For additional
conference information, visit
href='http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html'>http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
NBKRC is an online research center that offers subscribers access to
up-to-date research and statistics on bankruptcy filings. The database
contains complete information dating back to 1995. For more information
on NBKRC, please visit
href='http://www.nbkrc.com/'>http://www.nbkrc.com.
*Definitions from Bankruptcy Overview: Issues, Law and Policy, by the
American Bankruptcy Institute.
Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code is available to both individual and
business debtors. Its purpose is to achieve a fair distribution to
creditors of the debtor's available non-exempt property. Unsecured
debts not reaffirmed are discharged, providing a fresh financial
start.
Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code is available for both business and
consumer debtors. Its purpose is to rehabilitate a business as a going
concern or reorganize an individual's finances through a court-approved
reorganization plan.
Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code is designed to give special debt
relief to a family farmer with regular income from farming.
Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code is available for an individual with
regular income whose debts do not exceed specific amounts; it is
typically used to budget some of the debtor's future earnings under a
plan through which unsecured creditors are paid in whole or in part.