U.S. Consumer Bankruptcies Fall 18% in Downward Trend From '10, Group Says

By Steven Church – Aug 2, 2011 10:17 AM ET

Consumer bankruptcies fell 18 percent in July from the same period last year, the American Bankruptcy Institute reported.

Consumers filed 113,470 bankruptcies last month compared with 137,698 in July 2010, Alexandria, Virginia-based ABI said in a statement today.

Last month’s number continues a series of declines that began this year. In June, 119,768 consumers filed, down from 134,720 in April.

“Should these trends persist we expect to see fewer consumer bankruptcies in 2011 than were filed in 2010,” ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano said in the statement, pointing to a deleveraging of household debts during the past year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware, at schurch3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net.