Bankruptcy Filings Drop 13 Percent in November

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 114,587 nationwide in November, a 13.3 percent drop from the 132,173 total consumer filings recorded in October, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI).

While the November consumer filings represented a decrease from the previous month, they also represented a 2.2 percent increase from the November 2009 total of 112,152. Chapter 13 filings constituted 29.6 percent of all consumer cases in November, a slight decrease from October.

"The drop in consumer filings from October is perhaps a positive step that the deleveraging of the U.S. consumer may be underway, after years of expanding consumer debt," said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. "Still, we anticipate that there will be nearly 1.6 million consumer bankruptcy filings by year end."