Personal Bankruptcies in 1st Quarter Up 6%
Americans filed nearly 342,000 petitions in the first quarter seeking personal bankruptcy protection, the Bankruptcy Issues Council industry group reported. That’s up 6% from 1997’s first quarter. For the 12 months ended March 31, the total number of personal bankruptcy petitions was nearly 1.37 million, a record for any 12-month period, the group said, citing statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The group’s members include Visa, MasterCard and several banks. Congress is debating legislation that would make it harder for people to walk away from their debts.
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