Second-quarter Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings across the state have increased more than 50 percent over the same time last year, and there are no sign of them slowing any time soon.
The Warren Group, which published Banker and Tradesman, reported Monday that 4,489 people filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection from April through June, up from 2,839 in the same span in 2008. For the first half of 2009, there were 7,774 filings, up from 5,722 last year, a 36 percent increase.
Chapter 7 is the most common form of bankruptcy — accounting for 82 percent of the bankruptcies in the state — where most debt can be eliminated after non-exempt assets are used to pay off creditors. Chapter 13 requires debtors to arrange for a three- or five-year debt repayment plan. In contrast to Chapter 7, Chapter 13 filing actually fell 14.7 percent in the second quarter of 2009, with 919 [...]

Original post by Jay Pateakos