New numbers from the National Bankruptcy Research Center show 709,303 households filed for bankruptcy nationwide from Jan. 1 through June 30. That's an 8 percent drop from the 770,117 households that filed during the first six months of 2010.
Bankruptcies down 8% in the first half of the year
In Minnesota and nationwide bankruptcies have fallen against a backdrop of a more fiscally prudent consumer.
July 6, 2011 at 2:34AM
"The drop in bankruptcies for the first half of the year shows the continued efforts of consumers to reduce their household debt, and the overall pull back in consumer credit," Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, said in a statement.
In Minnesota, 10,376 consumers filed for bankruptcy during the first six months of the year, a 10 percent drop from a year ago.
At this point last year, the state had never seen so many people go bankrupt through June since it began tracking the number in 1982. There was fear that the number might surpass 2005 levels, a busy year for bankruptcies since many people flocked to bankruptcy court ahead of a major reform to bankruptcy law that made filing a more expensive and arduous task. Fortunately, the pace of consumer bankruptcies slowed in the second half of 2010.
Nationwide, June bankruptcy filings increased 4 percent from the month before. In Minnesota, personal bankruptcies were down 4 percent compared with May.
Consumers have spent the last few years trying to spruce up their finances. It appears to be paying off. The credit bureau Equifax says credit scores are rising, with the average score climbing to 696 in May, according to a Bloomberg story. That indicates that people are paying bills on time and using less of their available credit.
And Federal Reserve data show that consumer loan delinquencies have dropped and families are spending less of their income to pay off debts.
I'll be watching jobs and bankruptcy numbers closely. Attorneys say that bankruptcy numbers can climb months into an economic recovery because some struggling families choose to wait to file until they have steady income, but too much debt to repay, and are looking for a clean slate. Then again, an event like the government shutdown, which added more than 20,000 Minnesotans to the unemployment rolls, could be the breaking point for some families.
Visit www.startribune.com/mcguire for more from personal finance columnist and blogger Kara McGuire.
Nancy Nelson built the “red Swedish cottage” she’d always wanted across the street from her son’s family after her husband’s death prompted a move to south Minneapolis from Roseville.
