Bankruptcy filings still dropping

By Daily Record Staff
Posted: 5:34 pm Wed, May 4, 2011

The number of bankruptcy filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York dropped significantly in April.

Filings were down 28.7 percent from April 2010 in Rochester with 246 cases filed this year, compared to 345 a year ago. The change in Buffalo was a 7.5 percent decrease from 534 in 2010 to 494 last month.

Filings for the entire district, which includes nine counties in the Rochester Division and eight in Buffalo, declined 14.6 percent since the beginning of the year and compared to a year ago.

Year-to-date declines were 16.5 percent for Rochester with 889 cases filed in the first four months of the year, compared to 1,065 in 2010; and 13.5 percent for Buffalo, 1,619 from 1,871.

The complete report is on the court’s website at www.nywb.uscourts.gov.

“This is consistent with other signs the economy is improving,” said Jeffrey Freedman, senior partner, Jeffrey Freedman Attorneys at Law. “Charge-off and delinquency rates on credit cards are also declining.”

He said according to Moody’s Investor Services, the charge-off rate for written-off credit card balances declined from 7.35 percent in March and 7.56 percent in February. Delinquency rates, which have fallen for the past 17 consecutive months, were at 3.79 percent in March.