Americans made a stampede to Bankruptcy Court last month as passage of bankruptcy reform was inevitable. A record 165,000 filings were made during March, compared to 152,000 for March 2004. The 8.5% gain in filings reverses a steady decline in bankruptcy filings over the past two years. Bankruptcy filings declined about 4% for the full-year of 2004. In January 2005 filings dropped 13% and during February 2005 filings dived by 17% year over year. The steep rise in March is expected to continue through the fall of the year. The new bankruptcy law was signed by President Bush this week and will go into effect on October 17th.
Monthly Filings Historical
Mar 04: 152,567
Apr 04: 145,543
May 04: 136,509
Jun 04: 127,742
Jul 04: 133,390
Aug 04: 125,783
Sep 04: 127,664
Oct 04: 133,404
Nov 04: 116,952
Dec 04: 113,957
Jan 05: 99,705
Feb 05: 103,457
Mar 05: 165,459
Source: CardData (www.carddata.com)
Americans made a stampede to Bankruptcy Court last month as passage of bankruptcy reform was inevitable. A record 165,000 filings were made during March, compared to 152,000 for March 2004. The 8.5% gain in filings reverses a steady decline in bankruptcy filings over the past two years. Bankruptcy filings declined about 4% for the full-year of 2004. In January 2005 filings dropped 13% and during February 2005 filings dived by 17% year over year. The steep rise in March is expected to continue through the fall of the year. The new bankruptcy law was signed by President Bush this week and will go into effect on October 17th.
