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Karen Redmond , 202-502-2600
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April 16, 2007 — Bankruptcy filings in the federal courts dropped 70 percent in calendar year 2006, according to data released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. However, bankruptcies filed for the last three months of calendar year 2006 were the highest of any quarter in the calendar year. The statistics cover the first full 12-month period in which the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) has been in effect.

Bankruptcies filed in the twelve-month period ending December 31, 2006, totaled 617,660. This is the lowest bankruptcy filings have fallen since calendar year 1988, when 613,465 bankruptcies were filed. By comparison, in the 12-month period ending December 31, 2005, a total of 2,078,415 bankruptcies were filed, for the largest number of bankruptcy petitions ever filed in any 12-month period in the history of the federal courts.

Business and Non-Business Filings

The majority of bankruptcy filings are filings involving predominantly non-business debts. In CY 2006, they totaled 597,965, a 71 percent drop when compared to the 2,039,214 non-business bankruptcies filed in CY 2005. This is the lowest non-business bankruptcies have fallen since calendar year 1988, when 549,612 non-business bankruptcies were filed.

Filings involving predominantly business debts, totaling 19,695, fell 50 percent in CY 2006 when compared to the 39,201 business bankruptcies filed in CY 2005.

First Quarter of FY 2007

The last three months of calendar year 2006 were the first quarter of the Judiciary's 2007 fiscal year. The number of bankruptcies filed during the first quarter of fiscal year 2007 (October 1-December 31, 2006) was 177,599, down 73 percent from the 667,431 filings reported in the first quarter of fiscal year 2005. For calendar year 2006, however, the last three months of calendar year 2006 (October 1, 2006 – December 31, 2006) reported the highest number of filings for the year.

Filings by Chapter

Of the total number of bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, there were 360,890 Chapter 7 filings, down 78 percent from the 1,659,017 Chapter 7 filings in the same period in 2005. Chapter 13 filings totaled 251,179, down 39 percent from the 412,130 filings in CY 2005. Chapter 11 filings fell 24 percent to 5,163 from the 6,800 Chapter 11 filings in CY 2005. In CY 2006, Chapter 12 filings fell to 348 from the 380 filings reported in CY 2005.

For more on bankruptcy and its chapters, visit the Judiciary's website or go to www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf. Local bankruptcy court rules can be found at www.uscourts.gov/rules/bk-localrules.html. Historic data on bankruptcy filings is available on the Judiciary's website under Bankruptcy Statistics. Additional bankruptcy statistics, including bankruptcies by county, can be found on the Judiciary's PACER system.

Quarterly Filings*

* Because of ongoing corrections to the bankruptcy database, the quarterly data may not total to the most recent annual figures.