April Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Up 15 Percent over Last Year

April Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Up 15 Percent over Last Year

Contact: John Hartgen
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APRIL CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY FILINGS UP 15 PERCENT OVER LAST YEAR

May 3, 2010, Alexandria, Va. The 144,490 consumer bankruptcies filed in April represented a 15 percent increase nationwide over the 125,618 filings recorded in April 2009, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC). NBKRC’s data also showed that the April consumer filings represented a 3 percent decrease from the 149,268 consumer filings recorded in March 2010. Chapter 13 filings constituted 25 percent of all consumer cases in April, remaining unchanged from March.

“As Congress continues to consider measures to protect and assist consumers, bankruptcy is still the last resort for families coping with unemployment and increasing debt loads,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “Consumer filings this year will likely surpass 1.5 million filings.”

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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 12,600 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 www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit 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 http://www.nbkrc.com.