Bankruptcy filings in Wisconsin have not been this low in nearly a decade. They hit a nine-year low in 2016, according to new reports.
However, if you’re thinking that means almost no one filed for bankruptcy last year, the numbers do tell a different story. There were still 16,800 bankruptcy filings in the state. That’s an average of just over 46 filings per day, if considering a seven-day week — and not the typical five-day work week.
The last time that filings were lower was 2007, when there were 15,600. Even then, the lowest mark in 10 years, there were still an average of 42.7 filings every day.
One thing that these findings suggest is that bankruptcy rates simply spiked during the financial crisis, and they’ve been falling ever since. It is not a coincidence that the lowest year until now was 2007, when the financial crisis really struck in 2008/2009.
As the economy got worse and the banking and mortgage issues really became clear, filings skyrocketed. Though the economy has recovered in a lot of ways and things are not as dire as they were then, it has still taken nearly a decade for the amount of filings to get back to a “normal” level. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues going forward.
Are you thinking about filing for bankruptcy in 2017? As you can see, this is still quite common, despite the trends, and bankruptcy may be able to help you out of a financial hardship. It’s critical to know what types you can use, including Chapter 13 and Chapter 7, and how to get started.
Source: NBC, “Wisconsin bankruptcy filings lowest in 9 years at over 16.8K,” Feb. 12, 2017
