Business and individual bankruptcy filings in the U.S. in October increased 20 percent over September and 37 percent above the same month in 2006, according to Mike Bickford, president of Oklahoma City-based Jupiter eSource LLC's.Filings are headed for a total of 824,000 for 2007, a 40 percent increase over 2006 as a whole, according to Bickford's provider of bankruptcy data management services, known as Automated Access to Court Electronic Records.
The largest increase came in Nevada, with a 117 percent rise over the first 10 months of 2006. Other states with increases from 80 percent to 89 percent were California, Maine and Rhode Island. In Massachusetts, the increase over 10 months was 79 percent.
The filings per business day in October were the highest in 2007 and the largest since bankruptcy laws were revised in October 2005
Bankruptcy filings of all types -- personal and business --rose to more than 81,000 in October from almost 67,500 in September, Bickford said. Filings through October were 43 percent higher than for the same period last year, he said.
There were more than 5,000 corporate and individual filings to liquidate or reorganize in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings during the January-October period, a 20 percent increase so far this year. If the trend continues, 2007 as a whole will see 6,000 reorganization filings.
Bankruptcy filings dropped in late 2005 and early 2006 after consumers rushed to file ahead of the more restrictive October 2005 law. In the two weeks before that new law, 630,000 Americans filed bankruptcy petitions, bringing the total filings that year to a record 2.1 million.
