November Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Drop 13 Percent from October

Alexandria, Va. – U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings totaled  114,587 nationwide during November, a 13.3 percent drop from the 132,173 total consumer filings recorded in October, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC).

While the November consumer filings represented a decrease from the previous month, they represented a 2.2 percent increase from the November 2009 total of 112,152.  Chapter 13 filings constituted 29.6 percent of all consumer cases in November, a slight decrease from October.

“The drop in consumer filings from October is perhaps a positive step that the deleveraging of the U.S. consumer may be underway, after years of expanding consumer debt,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “Still, we anticipate that there will be nearly 1.6 million consumer bankruptcy filings by year end.”

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.