Bankruptcy Filings Up

Bankruptcy filings surged +14% during the first half of 2010, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Filings totaled 770,117 through June, compared to 675,351 during the same period last year. The institute also said that bankruptcies totaled 126,270 in June, a jump of +8.5% from the same month in 2009, when they totaled 116,365. The institute relied on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center for its information.

Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the institute, says "Years of rising consumer debt and low savings rates, combined with the housing and unemployment crisis, are causing bankruptcy levels not seen since the 2005."

In 2005 Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code, making it harder for Americans to file and sparking a rush to file by October of 2005, when the amendments kicked in. In 2005, bankruptcy filings totaled more than 2 million.

By comparison, Gerdano expects there will be more than 1.6 million new bankruptcy filings by the end of 2010.