Despite the supposed bankruptcy reform passed a few years ago, bankruptcy filings are climbing back up and Indiana is among the leaders.
Just more than 35,000 individuals and businesses in Indiana filed bankruptcy during the past 12 months, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court data released Wednesday. By comparison, about 27,700 filed for bankruptcy during the same period a year earlier.
Nationally, it was the highest number of new bankruptcy filings in the past 2 1/2 years, with nearly 1 million individuals and businesses filing bankruptcy.
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“It’s mostly really hard-working people we’re seeing filing for bankruptcy,” O’Connor said. “It’s elderly people who can’t afford the medical bills. And it’s the middle-aged who are used to a standard of living and got laid off and then can’t find good work. It’s younger people who maybe lost a job and used their credit card to get by. And then they found a new job, but it doesn’t pay enough for them to get by and pay off their debts.”
Keep in mind that the folks filing bankruptcy, by and large, aren’t deadbeats. The deadbeats don’t even bother filing bankruptcy. They don’t have the money to file and, in any case, they don’t have any income or assets creditors can get at in any case.
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