Last year, 11 percent fewer consumers filed bankruptcy than in 2010. Impacting the decline was deleveraging by U.S. households.
Consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 53,014 in December, based on statistics reported by the American Bankruptcy Institute. However, the low monthly figure appears to be the result of a change in the data source used by ABI.
December’s data was provided by Epiq Systems Inc., according to the 13,000-member trade group. The prior month, when consumer bankruptcies were 100,980, the data was obtained from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.
ABI reported 118,146 consumer bankruptcy filings for December 2010.
From Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2011, consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 1,304,971. Filings receded from the prior year’s revised 1,468,938 (prior ABI data indicated that there were 1,530,078 consumer bankruptcies filed in 2010).
“The decline in total filings reflects the retrenchment in consumer spending associated with a down U.S. economy,” ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano said in the report. “As consumers continue to de-leverage their debt and access to credit remains tight, bankruptcy filings will continue to decrease.“
Total chapter 13 bankruptcies filed last year were 401,588, falling 8 percent from 435,242 during 2010.
