Recently, the Sun-Sentinel reported on some interesting U.S. Bankruptcy Court data.
The data regarded consumer bankruptcies in the South Florida region last month. Reportedly, in August, 2,690 consumer bankruptcy filings were made in South Florida. This bankruptcy filing total is reportedly around 21 percent lower than the total the region saw in August of 2010. However, South Florida’s bankruptcy filing total for last month was also 1.36 percent higher than the total that was seen in the region in July of 2011.
Reportedly, Miami-Dade County also saw a slightly higher bankruptcy filing total last month than it did in July of 2011. The Sun-Sentinel article which reported on the above-mentioned data did not mention how Miami-Dade County’s bankruptcy filing total for last month compared to the total the county had in August of 2010.
The above-mentioned data appears to indicate that while South Florida did experience a year-over-year decrease in bankruptcies in August, bankruptcies did rise slightly in Miami-Dade County and South Florida as compared to the previous month. This is different from what we saw in July. That month, bankruptcy filings in Miami-Dade County and South Florida were down both on a year-over-year basis and as compared to the previous month.
This brings up some important questions. Will South Florida and Miami-Dade County see further month-to-month increases in bankruptcy filings in the last few months of 2011? If we do see such increases, what impacts will they (and their causes) have on consumers in Miami-Dade County and South Florida? One wonders what the answers to these questions will ultimately be.
Source: The Sun-Sentinel, “Bankruptcies fall 21 percent in August,” Marcia Heroux Pounds, Sept. 2, 2011