U.S. consumers filed 7 percent fewer bankruptcies last month. It was the third consecutive month that filings declined. But the forecast for the rest of the year is for filings to turn higher.
Consumers filed 126,270 bankruptcies during June, a report released today from the American Bankruptcy Institute indicated. Filings were lower than 136,142 bankruptcies in May.
However, bankruptcy filings were worse than June 2009, when 116,365 filings were made.
ABI says its figures were derived from National Bankruptcy Research Center data.
June filings included around 34,100 Chapter 13 bankruptcies, lower than May’s roughly 35,400.
During the entire first half of this year, consumer bankruptcies totaled 770,117. By the end of 2010, ABI predicts 1.6 million consumer bankruptcies will have been filed — suggesting filings will increase around 8 percent in the second-half 2010 and also suggesting the declining trend will end.
ABI says its 12,600 members include bankers, lenders and other bankruptcy professionals as well as judges and attorneys.
