- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With
the economy mired in recession, debt-burdened U.S. consumers and businesses
filed for bankruptcy in record numbers last year, the Administrative Office
of the U.S. Courts said on Tuesday.
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- The total number of bankruptcies filed during the year
jumped 19 percent to 1.49 million from 1.25 million in 2000. That total
easily surpassed the previous high of 1.44 million bankruptcies recorded
in 1998.
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- Economists have predicted for some time that bankruptcies
would reach new highs in 2001 as the recession took a toll on the finances
of consumers and corporations alike. And some experts forecast the surge
will continue this year.
-
- "I think the feeling of most people is that 2002
will be an equally big year," said Sam Gerdano, executive director
of the American Bankruptcy Institute. A recent poll of the institute's
members found 93 percent thought filings would keep rising.
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- Congress has also been trying to tighten U.S. bankruptcy
laws, which may have spurred some debtors to file preemptively. Somewhat
paradoxically, that effort is now stalled largely because lawmakers don't
want to be seen as piling on the pain at a time when consumers are feeling
the economic pinch.
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- Personal bankruptcy filings totaled 1.45 million in 2001,
up 19 percent from 1.22 million in 2000. Business bankruptcies rose slightly
less sharply, increasing 13 percent to 40,099 from 35,472 in the previous
year.
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- The total number of new bankruptcy filings between October
and December of 2001 was 364,921, nearly 18 percent above the same quarter
a year earlier, but still below the record 400,394 bankruptcies filed in
the second quarter of 2001.
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