U.S. consumers are paying down more of their debt.
On Tuesday the American Bankruptcy Institute announced that U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings decreased 8% to 709,303 nationwide through June 30, down from 770,117 total consumer filings a year earlier.
June consumer filings totaled 119,768, a 5% decline from the 126,270 filings in June 2010.
“The drop in bankruptcies for the first half of the year shows the continued efforts of consumers to reduce their household debt, and the overall pull back in consumer credit,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano in a press release.
The June 2011 filings represented a 4% increase from the May 2011 consumer bankruptcy total of 114,803 filings. The percentage of chapter 13 filings for June was 28%, a 1% increase from May.
