Downturn Drags More Consumers Into Bankruptcy

[groovedaddy]

The economy’s deep troubles are pushing a growing number of already struggling consumers into bankruptcy, often with far more debt than those who filed in previous downturns.

Plummeting home values, dwindling incomes and the near disappearance of credit have proved a potent mixture. While all the usual reasons that distressed borrowers seek bankruptcy — job loss, medical bills, divorce — play significant roles, new economic forces are changing the calculus of who can ride out the tough times and who cannot.

The number of personal bankruptcy filings jumped nearly 8 percent in October from September, after marching steadily upward for the last two years, said Mike Bickford, president of Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a bankruptcy data and management company.

Filings totaled 108,595, surpassing 100,000 for the first time since a law that made it more difficult — and often twice as expensive — to file for bankruptcy took effect in 2005. That translated to an average of 4,936 bankruptcies filed each business day last month, up nearly 34 percent from October 2007.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16consumer.html?th&emc=th

[Delphinus]

1. My problem isn't

the medical bills - it's the freaking insurance premiums!

I am grateful, though, for my health, as I've decided I cannot afford to continue this and will be uninsured (again) come January.

[Eurobabe]

2. I wonder if PE Obama is going to do anything to

help these families who are drowning in debt, trying to make mortgage payments and using their credit cards to buy gas, food, pay for family expenses? Fuck if these damn banks and other greedy pricks can get assistance, why can't normal Americans? :mad:

That story really pissed me off. It's only going to get worse.

[Citizen Number 9]

3. Misplaced anger

Again, it's not about saving the damn banks because we love them. A number of them have been allowed to go under. We are shoring up the big ones because we are worried about the consequences for the rest of the economy, including a lot of jobs.