Georgia’s remains among the top three states in the nation for personal bankruptcy filings, even as the state unemployment rate drops to all-time lows, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. The state’s overall number of filings is down, but bankruptcy remains far more widespread in Georgia than it is on the national level. The most recent monthly rate from October stands at 4.43 per 1,000 people, behind only Alabama and Tennessee, according to American Bankruptcy Institute data from Epiq Systems, a legal services company. Georgia’s rank is due to a mix of factors, experts said, including creditor-friendly state laws, weak consumer protections and the lagging financial fortunes of the nation’s middle class.“Sure we have low unemployment, but wage growth has not really caught up with cost of living,” said Eric Breithaupt, an attorney at Atlanta’s Stites & Harbison. Georgia’s federal bankruptcy courts, which have enacted rules that make it easier for consumers to seek relief from crushing debts, also play a major role in the state’s high rates, said Georgia State University College of Law professor Jack Williams. The courts move quickly on legitimate bankruptcy claims, while a ruling in the Northern District of Georgia, which includes metro Atlanta, makes it easier for consumers to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy with no money down. Also, weaknesses in the state’s consumer safety net create debt traps from which many Georgians cannot escape, said Berneta Haynes, Senior Director of Policy and Access at the consumer advocacy group Georgia Watch.Georgia has the nation’s third highest rate of those living without health insurance, according to 2018 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, making medical debt a serious threat to financial livelihoods, Haynes said.
