The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcies released the 2011 third quarter results today. If you like you can look at them at this LINK Overall we can see a continued trend.
Bankruptcy filings are down from 2010 and trending down throughout 2011. This is not really surprising as the economy continues a slow recovery from the 2008-2009 recession when bankruptcy filings reached a peak. More and more people are getting back to work, things are getting better for many people.
Another interesting trend is the continued increase in people choosing to file ConsumerProposals rather than filing for bankruptcy.
In the Toronto region Bankruptcy filings are down 25% over 2010 but Consumer Proposal filings are up over 3% over 2010 numbers. In some parts of Ontario, the numbers are more striking, In Hamilton for example bankruptcies are down by 25% but Proposal filings are up by nearly 30%!
I think that this is due to a combination of reasons, foremost, people are learning more about Consumer Proposals, Trustees ( particularly HoyesMichalos & AssociatesInc.) are working hard to get the word out about Proposals. In addition legislative changes in 2009 to the bankruptcy and Insolvency Act made Proposals a much more viable solution for dealing with debt than they used to be compared to Bankruptcy.
In general these numbers give us insight to 2 things. first, the overall numbers of people needing to file bankruptcy or proposals is down from 2010. Second, more and more people are avoiding bankruptcy by filing a ConsumerProposal to deal with their debt.
Although filings are trending downward, which is good news, we have not seen filings reduce to pre-recession levels. Clearly there are still a lot of people who need help dealing with their debt.
If you are struggling with debt, take some time and call us, we can help you get a fresh start, and finally put you on the road to debt freedom.
Call 310 PLAN ( 7526) ir click on www.hoyes.com and lets get started
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