Upside/Downside: Personal Bankruptcies Rise Fast in Recession
Thursday, May 13, 2010
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It’s a last resort that’s becoming more common and it’s the subject of this week’s Upside/Downside. Personal bankruptcies in Ohio rose more than 22 percent from 2008 to 2009, and are up even more this year. It’s another downside of the recession. ideastream®’s Dan Bobkoff has some of the stories behind the numbers.
If you find yourself in Blake Brewer’s office in Independence, you’ve probably hit the end of the road.
BREWER: Yeah, we keep a box of tissues handy on the desk because there are a lot of tears shed.
A lost job, medical bills, a family that fell apart, or spending too much on credit, there are a lot of ways to end up talking with this bankruptcy attorney.
But in Brewer’s 10 years of practicing, he’s never been as busy as he is today.
BREWER: I had a recent day where I handled personally five consumer bankruptcy matters in one day. Four in Cleveland and one in Akron and that’s certainly a record for me.
According to the US Courts, consumer bankruptcies rose 32 percent nationwide from 2008 to 2009. This year is looking to be even worse. April’s bankruptcy filings were up 15% over last year.
When I visited Blake Brewer’s office recently, he was already counseling a new client through the process.
This thirty-six year old single mother didn’t want her full name used. Bankruptcy is embarrassing, so we agreed to call her Serena. She used to work two or three jobs at a time, but when her daughter was born, that was too much. She owns her own home, but her $48,000 a year salary wasn’t enough.
SERENA: It’s adds up really quick. You don’t realize in a month how much money you can spend even not even doing fun stuff. Just putting food on the table, or buying things for school or paying for daycare.
So Serena started to rack up credit card debt. When another card offered her a good interest rate, she’d move her money there. At the same time, her home’s value plummeted. Now as she starts bankruptcy proceedings, she’s gearing up to move into a small apartment.
SERENA: I have a whole house with tons of things. How do you liquidate from getting rid of everything you’ve accumulated in 8-10 years to move into a two bedroom apartment. It’s super scary.
Bankruptcies are a lagging economic indicator – they typically increase well after a recession hits. Many who have hung on in this recession by spending their savings, borrowing from family, or raiding their retirement accounts, are now finding themselves out of options. Sam Gerdano is the head of the American Bankruptcy Institute, and he says the numbers continue to climb. There could be as many as 1.7 million filings this year—three times pre-recession levels.
GERDANO: It is a big deal. If we reach 1.7 million, it will be the largest bankruptcy year for filings, except for the year when the law changed.
That was back in 2005, when Congress tightened the rules on filing. It was also around that time Genia got her first credit card.
GENIA: Yeah, yeah, I would say 2006 was when I got most of my credit thrown at me. I actually had a credit card with like a $6000 limit.
She was 18. Genia spent the next four years charging school books and some of her college tuition on her credit cards. And, she bought some stuff she probably didn’t need, like new clothes. By the time she graduated, she had nearly $30-grand in credit card debt.
GENIA: Eventually you get to a point where the interest rates are so high and the monthly payments are so high that I couldn’t physically make payments anymore.
The collections agencies began to harass her family. Genia knew she had to go through bankruptcy. Like Serena, Genia didn’t want her full name used, fearing it could hurt future employment.
GENIA: I’ve made some mistakes, but I’ve learned tremendously.
One of the ironies about bankruptcy is it’s expensive. The whole process can cost as much as $2000. Many use their tax refunds to pay the legal fees. That’s one reason filings tend to spike this time of year.
But there are fewer consequences than you might think. Most people who are at that point already have bad credit, so a bankruptcy filing doesn’t make much difference. And if your home or car has little value, you can often keep those.
But no one will tell you it’s a fun process. Serena, the single mom, says she thought about the moral side when she considered bankruptcy.
SERENA: At first I looked at it like failure, and now I look at it as I’m only improving myself and a better life for my baby.
Sam Gerdano of the American Bankruptcy Institute says that with so many big corporations defaulting, there’s less of a stigma now for everyday people.
GERDANO: The idea that individuals have a higher moral obligation than these other entities that have sought protection under the bankruptcy laws is, I think, a bit dated.
For Genia, bankruptcy has led to some life changes. She works hard to stay within her budget. And, with no credit cards, she’s all cash. She can’t get a bank account.
GENIA: Yeah, most of my money is in a safe. When you default on a checking account, you basically get blacklisted.
But Genia says leaving bankruptcy court, with the chance to start over, makes it all worth it.
GENIA: You walk out of there feeling like you have a set of wings and you want to fly. It’s a pretty relieving feeling.
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