• Tweet ^[1]
• Email ^[2]

• Tweet ^[1]
• Email ^[2]

The number of personal bankruptcy filings hit 2.04 million in 2005, a 31.6% increase, ahead of the personal bankruptcy law changes that went into effect on Oct. 17th, according to a survey by Lundquist Consulting ^[3]. That means one in every 53 households (1.8%+) filed for either Chapter 7, where your outstanding debts are cleared, or Chapter 13, where you must repay the debts over a period of time. One in every fifty-three… unbelievable. Only 2% of the 2005 filings occurred after the new law was enacted, so it doesn’t appear that people who hadn’t planned on filing did so to sneak in under the previous rules.

Bankruptcy is financially devastating and even more so now that the rules for Chapter 7 bankruptcy eligibility are much harder to meet ^[4].

Financial health is not much different than physical health. You can eat that donut in the coffee room but you’ll have to work extra hard to work it off. You can buy that $4,000 and put it on your credit card but you’ll have to work extra hard to pay it off.

Find yourself stuck in debt and need help? Consider reading the Carnival of Debt Reduction ^[5], you’ll find that a lot of the writers are themselves in debt or have worked their way out and through the Carnival you might find yourself making some new friends and building your own support system. Who knows! The latest edition is over at PFAdvice ^[6].

via CNNMoney ^[7].