Although overall consumer bankruptcies have been trending lower, the number of debtors turning to Chapter 13 plans took a turn for the worse.
There was barely any change in consumer bankruptcy filings last month versus July.
Debtors filed 113,432 bankruptcies in August, slipping from 113,470 filings a month earlier. It was the second month in a row that fewer consumers turned to bankruptcy.
The data was reported Friday by the American Bankruptcy Institute. The 13,000-member trade group relied on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center for its findings.
But when compared to August 2010, the drop was more substantial; there were 127,028 bankruptcies a year earlier. The decline versus a year earlier was the eighth in a row.
From Jan. 1 through July 31, bankruptcy filings totaled 936,205. ABI predicts that this year’s total will fall short of the 1.5 million consumer filings made in 2010.
Last month’s Chapter 13 filings accounted for 30 percent of total bankruptcies, or around 34,000 filings. That was worse than roughly 32,900 Chapter 13 bankruptcies during July.
However, Chapter 13 activity improved from approximately 36,800 in August 2010.
