3 of every 100 US citizens has filed for BK in last 60 months!!!

[tyson24]

I know that my trustee had on his calendar yesterday, 36 cases between 1pm and 4pm. And not one person failed to show. SO one case every five minutes, and probably 72 cases a day. $60 per case, that is some nice math

I have 3 people talking about doing it in my family alone. I am not ashamed

[IBroke]

Oh, this is far from over. Since 2007, the trend is going up again. 2010 is not over yet and I expect 2011 to be just as bad - if not worse. When I had my 341-meeting 2 weeks ago, the trustee handling my case had to deal with 35(!!) other cases that morning(!!) alone.

[ryan]

My take on this is it's not as big as I would have expected. It may also explain why CC 's are so eager to sue, especially today. The main thing they would have to fear would be a Chapter 7 BK, but not so much with those stats.

[NowImDownInIt]

I honestly would have thought it would be more. 3 in 100 over 5 years. Sheesh.

[angles]

Thanks for the posting. I suspected that the numbers have been climbing with all the adds and the increased discussions about how to do it among some of my friends.

[gman]

Though the "table" below might be tough to read [sorry - I do not know how to format a table here] - the important number is the total amount - which reflects the number of US citizens who have filed for bankruptcy over the last 60 months.

The number does include an estimate of 31.9% of all filings being joint (husband/wife).

A staggering 7.75 million citizens have filed in the last 60 months alone.


Compare this with the number of adults in the US - estimated to be in the neighborhood of 256.8 million in 2010.

This means that 3 out of every 100 Americans has filed for bankruptcy in the past 60 months! People, you are not alone!!!!

The actual number impacted by bankruptcy is likely even higher. Why? Well these numbers do not include the business bankruptcies, as many "people" file for bankruptcy of their incorporated business (and not personal.) Add these into the mix and we are looking at even more people who have filed for bankruptcy.

So - when you start looking around, realize that for every crowd of just 33 people, odds are that at least one of them has filed for bankruptcy in the last 60 months alone.

The lesson here for newcomers is DO NOT BE ASHAMED. The Great Recession has swept up the best of us. Life will go on. Personally I am excited about my bankruptcy and have decided to look at it as a fresh start - not a scarlet letter.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Year Total BK Filings Personal BK Filings Estimated Indviduals
2010 1,572,597 1,512,989 1,995,632
2009 1,306,315 1,251,294 1,650,457
2008 967,831 934,009 1,231,958
2007 751,056 727,167 959,133
2006 1,484,570 1,453,008 1,916,518
Total Estimated Individuals 7,753,698

Sources:

http://www.bankruptcyaction.com/USbankstats.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States