As we have discussed previously on this blog, in recent years, many individuals in the country have faced financial struggles, such as problems with investments, debts or mortgages. This may be one of the reasons why we have seen a high number of bankruptcy filings in the last couple of years. However, this year, it appears that a trend of decreases in consumer bankruptcy filings is occurring.
Recently, a report was issued by the American Bankruptcy Institute regarding consumer bankruptcy filings in the United States. The report indicated that 119,768 consumer bankruptcy filings were made nationwide in June of 2011. This reportedly is around a 5 percent decrease from the number of filings made in June of 2010.
The report also indicated a year-over-year decrease in consumer bankruptcy filings nationally when it came to the first half of 2011 overall. According to the report, 709,303 consumer bankruptcies were filed nationwide from January of 2011 to June of 2011. This consumer bankruptcy filing total is around 8 percent lower than the total reported for the first half of 2010.
These numbers indicate that, thus far, the nation is seeing fewer consumer bankruptcy filings in 2011 than it did in 2010. This trend of decreasing consumer bankruptcies nationally brings up some interesting questions. What is causing this trend? Is this trend occurring because consumers are starting to face fewer or less extreme financial struggles than they have in past years? Is this trend ultimately a sign of good news for consumers? How long will this trend last? It will be very interesting to see how these questions are ultimately answered.
Source: Reuters, “Fewer U.S. consumer bankruptcies in first half of 2011,” 5 Jul 2011
