[Vision2020] WA bankruptcy filings surge 52 percent

[Kenneth Marcy]

WA bankruptcy filings surge 52 percent

http://tinyurl.com/mellda 

More than 15,000 people filed for bankruptcy protection in Washington state in 
the first six months of this year, a 52 percent increase over last year.

That growth rate, if it holds through the year, would be the sharpest annual 
increase in bankruptcy filings Washington has seen in at least three decades. 
In both 1986 and 1996, the state saw filings soar over 35 percent, the 
biggest spike on record, according to figures from the American Bankruptcy 
Institute. In 2008, there were 21,835 bankruptcies in Washington state, 
according to the institute. 

The surge in this year's bankruptcies are related to the housing bust, experts 
say, and homeowners being unable to sell or refinance to get out from under 
mortgages heavily marketed during the past housing boom.

Among the states, Washington ranked 24th in June in per capita bankruptcy 
filings and ninth in the annual increase in per capita filings, according to 
AACER, a bankruptcy data and management firm. 

http://tinyurl.com/mellda


Ken