A new report from Automated Access to Court Electronic Records (AACER) shows that in May alone, bankruptcy filings rose to more than 6,000 a day.Reuters reported:
"U.S. business bankruptcy filings jumped 40 percent in May from a year ago as the sluggish U.S. economy pushed more businesses into the red, a bankruptcy data provider said on Tuesday.
"There were 7,514 commercial bankruptcy filings for the month, compared with just 5,354 during the same month a year ago, according to AACER, a database of U.S. bankruptcy statistics used by attorneys and lenders."
USA Today said:
"Filings are surging back in part because of rising job losses. The unemployment rate could hit 10 percent this year. And tighter credit, dwindling 401(k) accounts, smaller paychecks and less savings have left unemployed workers and those who are working but struggling with fewer financial resources to keep creditors at bay.
"Over the past decades, consumers who were hurting financially could rely on credit cards to help them tread water. "The fact that consumer credit has tightened and shrunk explains why bankruptcy filings have now gone up so dramatically," Lawless says.
"In May, the number of bankruptcy filings reached 6,020 a day, up from 5,854 in April, AACER says."
USA Today pointed out that the rate at which bankruptcy filings are climbing varies from state to state. AACER reported that in May, California, Michigan and Nevada had the largest per-capita increase in bankruptcy filings.
American Public Media's Marketplace reported on one of the major causes of bankruptcy:
"A new report out in the American Journal of Medicine says medical bills are involved in 60 percent of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. Many of those people affected are covered by health insurance."
Who gets hurt by bankruptcy? It is not just banks. Look at some cases and find the creditors who are standing in line to get pennies on the dollar for what they are owed for their hard work, products or services.
