The latest report from the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) revealed that the number of Americans filing for consumer bankruptcy (Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Chapter 13 bankruptcy) continued to trend downward in the month of September.

In a press release, the ABI stated that there were approximately 108,517 consumer bankruptcy filings in the month of September. A decrease of roughly 4 percent from the month of August, in which there were 113,432 consumer bankruptcy filings, and a decrease of 17 percent from September 2010, in which there were 130,329 consumer bankruptcy filings. (The ABI used data supplied by the National Bankruptcy Research Center in making its calculations.)

Interestingly, the ABI also found that the number of Americans filing for consumer bankruptcy has fallen rather steadily over the first nine months of the year, reaching only 1,044,722 filings. By comparison, there were 1,165,172 filings during the same time last year.

"The trend of declining filings has been consistent with consumers continuing to reign in their spending, household debt and an overall pull back in consumer credit," said Samuel J. Gerdano, Executive Director of the ABI. "Total consumer filings for 2011 will be less than 2010."

In addition, Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings were also found to have made up only 30 percent of all consumer bankruptcy filings for the month of September.

Here in Phoenix, there were 1,999 bankruptcy filings - consumer and commercial - in the month of September, the lowest amount since February 2011.

Area attorneys have their own theories as to why bankruptcy filings have taken a dip.

"Maybe people are having a hard time coming up with the money even to file a bankruptcy case now," said one attorney. "Or perhaps most of the people who were going to file have already filed, or maybe most of the people who have walked away from their homes already have done that."

Whatever the reason, many experts are predicting that the lull in bankruptcy filings is only temporary.

The following post is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.

If you would like to learn more about Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, take the time to speak with an experienced legal or financial professional.

Stay tuned for further developments from our Phoenix bankruptcy blog ...

Sources:

American Bankruptcy Institute, "Consumer bankruptcy filings down 10 percent through nine months of 2011" Oct. 4, 2011

The Arizona Republic, "Phoenix-area bankruptcy filings continue to drop, but trend could be deceiving" Oct. 6, 2011