Total bankruptcy filings for 2009 are on track to hit 1.4 million by year's end, according to recent statistics, with more than 5,900 personal bankruptcy petitions filed each day nationwide.
Between January and September, more than 1.07 million petitions were filed, according to statistics collected by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, or AACER, a nearly 33% increase over the same period of 2008.
The rate of filings peaked in May, with more than 6,000 individuals filing bankruptcy per day, but has decreased only slightly as the recession wears on.
Bankruptcy Filings Return to 'Natural Levels'
The continual rise in bankruptcy rates from 2006's low should be expected, according to University of Illinois College of Law professor Robert Lawless. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCA) that took effect in 2005 led to an immediate decrease in filings, but only due to the massive increase in the month before it took effect.
Lawless sees it as a "return to the 'natural level' of bankruptcy filing rates in this country."
Current economic conditions have only sped up the process by which people run out of options and turn to bankruptcy protection, Lawless says.
"When people can no longer borrow on their credit cards to stave of the day of reckoning, they end up in bankruptcy court."
Tags: 2009 bankruptcy, bankruptcy filings, bankruptcy statistics
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