Utah bankruptcy filings are up 62 percent so far this year compared to the number filed by the end of the third quarter of 2008.
Through Sept. 30, 10,706 bankruptcies have been filed in the Beehive State, compared to 6,597 by the same time last year. With three more months to go this year, in fact, cases already surpass the total for all of 2008, which was 9,256, according to statistics from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah.
That 62 percent is the same percentage increase found at the midyear mark compared to the previous year. In a one-month comparison, year-over-year, September 2009's 1,386 filings was a 75 percent increase over the 792 filed in September 2008.
Back in April, court clerk David Sime said it was possible Utah's bankruptcy total could reach 15,000 by the end of the year.
"It looked like we had a little dip (over summer), but the trend is up again," Sime said Monday.
And for three of the last four months, Utah has seen a 70 percent increase compared to the same month the year before. The number of cases filed this year has consistently been higher each month compared to last year.
Sime said it's still hard to compare numbers to earlier in the decade, when close to 22,000 cases were filed in a single year, because of the law that in 2005 changed the process and raised the cost of filing for bankruptcy, among other things. But the numbers have been climbing.
The majority of filings, 6,905, were Chapter 7, where assets are liquidated to pay debts. Chapter 13, debt adjustment, came in next with 3,731 so far this year. There were just 67 filed under Chapter 11, which is a reorganization that is most often used by businesses. And three bankruptcies were filed under Chapter 12, which is "family farm protection."
Utah's newest bankruptcy statistics are online at www.utb.uscourts.gov.
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