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Total 2016 U.S. personal bankruptcy filings are positioned to fall for a sixth consecutive year, according to a Fitch Ratings report released yesterday. Fitch projects personal bankruptcies to decline by roughly 6-8 percent, with stable unemployment levels, sustained consumer discipline and continued price growth in the housing sector driving the decline. “The labor market remains steady, consumer confidence is up and gas prices figure to stay low for the foreseeable future, which should help keep personal bankruptcy filings trending lower,” said Director Herman Poon. Lower initial jobless claims and continued improvement in unemployment drove further the decline in consumer filings, falling 10.2 percent year over year in 2015. While consumers continued to borrow last year thanks to higher consumer confidence levels, overall macro conditions have generally supported the lower trend. The contraction in personal bankruptcy filings helped generate positive improvement in ABS collateral performance in 2015, with credit card delinquencies and chargeoffs hovering at or near record lows for much of the year.

A U.S. Trustee wants an investigation into rapper 50 Cent’s financial affairs, saying pictures of him flashing cash on social media sites “are potential evidence of serious misconduct,” the Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat Blog reported yesterday. U.S. Trustee William Harrington’s request said that the 40-year-old entertainer’s social media posts suggest that he “lives a lavish lifestyle” and have “invited a public perception that a bankruptcy case is an appropriate vehicle for publicity without sufficient financial accountability,” according to court documents filed on Monday. Harrington’s request comes less than a week after Judge Ann Nevins ordered 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, to explain his social media posts in person, citing similar concerns. She set a March 9 hearing to consider the request for an investigation.