County on pace for 34 percent rise in bankruptcy filings
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 6:06 PM PST
By Greg Garrison
Printable version
E-mail this articleMore Cowlitz County residents are filing for bankruptcy as they try to weather job loses, declining home values and tightened credit.
Cowlitz County has seen 284 bankruptcy filings through the first 10 months of this year, a 34 percent jump from the 2007 numbers through October. County statistics reflect a statewide trend that has seen Washington bankruptcies jump 40 percent in 2008, according to The Associated Press.
“There’s a definite increase,” said Alfred Bennett, a Longview bankruptcy attorney. Bennett said in recent months his office has handled 20 percent to 30 percent more bankruptcy filings than usual.
He said decreased home values and overwhelming mortages are to blame for the majority of the cases he sees. In many situations, he says, a husband or wife loses their job and the couple fall behind on mortgage payments.
“They bought a house with the expectation that fair market value would go up,” Bennett said. “Now, they’re struggling to make mortgage paymnents, if (they’re making) any at all.”
Southwest Washington, which suffers from higher unemployment figures than other regions of the state, has been hit particularly hard. At this time last year, 947 bankruptcies had been filed in Clark County. The county has already reported 1,645 filings this year, an increase of 73 percent. Wahkiakum County has seen its number of bankruptcies jump from four in 2007 to nine this year.
While Cowlitz County’s increase hasn’t been as dramatic as that of surrounding counties, it has begun to rise more sharply in recent months. From June through October, 163 bankruptcies were filed in the county, a 53 percent increase compared to that period last year. Thirty-six bankruptcies were filed in October, compared to 25 in October of 2007.
Bankruptcy numbers have been steadily rising across the country for the past two years, according to AACER, a bankruptcy data and management company. From September to October, personal bankruptcy filings jumped 8 percent nationwide.
California, Nevada and Florida — states where home values rose and then fell sharply — have experienced some of the most severe cases. All have seen bankruptcy numbers rise by more than 60 percent this year, according to AACER statistics.
Bennett said he wouldn’t go as far as to call the recent rise in filings a “surge,” and instead characterized it as a gradual increase. He said he doesn’t expect it to let up in the near future.
“Every group of people I talk to, they all say there will be more of the same,” Bennett said. “There’s gonna be more bankruptcies. It’s a cycle. We just have to weather it.”
Related article:
State's bankruptcy filings up 40 percent
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