Bankruptcies jump 40 percent in 2007

The American Bankruptcy Institute blames the mortgage crisis for heavy debt load, warns that this year could see more bankruptcies.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of Americans filing for consumer bankruptcy increased by nearly 40 percent in 2007, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

In a report released Thursday, the ABI said that the number of overall consumer bankruptcy filings reached 801,840 last year, compared to 573,203 in 2006.

"The roughly 40 percent spike in consumer bankruptcies during 2007 presages [an] even higher [number of] filings this year, as the heavy consumer debt load is made worse by the home mortgage crisis," predicted ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano.

However, the report also showed that the number of bankruptcy filings declined 7.5 percent in December from November. And Chapter 13 filings - those available to individuals with regular income whose debts do not exceed specific amounts - also showed a decline from November to December.  To top of page

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.