Waves of bankruptcy filings in Richmond federal court continue to roll in this year, but at a slightly slower clip than they did in 2010.
Through June, 4,303 bankruptcy petitions have been filed in Richmond, about a 7 percent drop from the 4,635 cases filed during the same period in 2010, according to court records.
A total of 8,857 cases were filed in 2010, the highest number in single year during a five-year period examined by Richmond BizSense.
Personal bankruptcies make up the overwhelming majority of cases in any given month, illustrating residents’ continuing struggle with debt and unemployment.
The slightly slowed pace of filings puts Richmond in line with the rest of the country. The number of personal filings nationwide this year is down 7.9 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute and reported by the Wall Street Journal.
But the numbers are still extremely high and prove the persistent effects of the housing and financial downturns.
Roy Terry, an attorney with DurretteCrump and a Chapter 7 trustee for the Richmond bankruptcy division, said that despite a moderate slowdown in the pace of filings he doesn’t expect the number of cases to significantly drop any time soon.
“I’m bothered by the jobless numbers,” Terry said. “The longer those unemployment numbers stay up, you will continue to see filings.”
Terry said many of those people filing now are those who have held out the longest.
“Folks at this point are exhausted, physically, mentally and financially. They are completely wiped out,” Terry said.
“A couple months back, there was a lot from the middle class and they still had some assets, even if they were relatively small. What I am finding now, that stuff is just gone.”
Bankruptcy attorney Joe Lamb also sees repeat filers keeping dockets busy down the road.
“A lot of people are marking the time until they are eligible to file,” said Lamb. “I’ve seen more previous filers coming in than I have before.”
Overall, Lamb said he is seeing fewer clients than he did last year.
He still expects continued demand from individuals who got temporary loan modifications on their homes and now face a return to their regular mortgage payments.
“What some programs will do is reduce the payment from $2,000 to $1,200 a month for the next two years. Now coming up on the two-year mark, have they recovered enough financially, or are they right back where they were?” Lamb said.
Then there are those who are turning to bankruptcy after months of haggling with lenders only to have the modification be denied.
“I think as loan modification programs start to bear less and less fruit, there might be a slight uptick,” Lamb said.
Waves of bankruptcy filings in Richmond federal court continue to roll in this year, but at a slightly slower clip than they did in 2010.
Through June, 4,303 bankruptcy petitions have been filed in Richmond, about a 7 percent drop from the 4,635 cases filed during the same period in 2010, according to court records.
A total of 8,857 cases were filed in 2010, the highest number in single year during a five-year period examined by Richmond BizSense.
Personal bankruptcies make up the overwhelming majority of cases in any given month, illustrating residents’ continuing struggle with debt and unemployment.
The slightly slowed pace of filings puts Richmond in line with the rest of the country. The number of personal filings nationwide this year is down 7.9 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute and reported by the Wall Street Journal.
But the numbers are still extremely high and prove the persistent effects of the housing and financial downturns.
Roy Terry, an attorney with DurretteCrump and a Chapter 7 trustee for the Richmond bankruptcy division, said that despite a moderate slowdown in the pace of filings he doesn’t expect the number of cases to significantly drop any time soon.
“I’m bothered by the jobless numbers,” Terry said. “The longer those unemployment numbers stay up, you will continue to see filings.”
Terry said many of those people filing now are those who have held out the longest.
“Folks at this point are exhausted, physically, mentally and financially. They are completely wiped out,” Terry said.
“A couple months back, there was a lot from the middle class and they still had some assets, even if they were relatively small. What I am finding now, that stuff is just gone.”
Bankruptcy attorney Joe Lamb also sees repeat filers keeping dockets busy down the road.
“A lot of people are marking the time until they are eligible to file,” said Lamb. “I’ve seen more previous filers coming in than I have before.”
Overall, Lamb said he is seeing fewer clients than he did last year.
He still expects continued demand from individuals who got temporary loan modifications on their homes and now face a return to their regular mortgage payments.
“What some programs will do is reduce the payment from $2,000 to $1,200 a month for the next two years. Now coming up on the two-year mark, have they recovered enough financially, or are they right back where they were?” Lamb said.
Then there are those who are turning to bankruptcy after months of haggling with lenders only to have the modification be denied.
“I think as loan modification programs start to bear less and less fruit, there might be a slight uptick,” Lamb said.
Let’s keep speaking of increased taxes, increased energy costs.
Let’s keep printing money and devaluing the dollar, and increase food and commodity costs.
Let’s keep increasing union power, increasing the cost of regulation.
Let’s keep increasing entitlements.
And then we can see if bankruptcies increase.
Progressives are at war with business, and business is losing.
Maybe a few taxpayer funded solar panels can make it all better.