Region's bankruptcy filings fall sharply
Continuing and accelerating a trend, bankruptcy filings in Western new York tumbled more than 20 percent in October from a year ago, as economic conditions in the region remain relatively better than elsewhere.
It is a positive trend that is moving much faster than national figures. across the country, personal bankruptcies fell 2.8 percent from a year ago.
The decline in bankruptcies locally mirrors the relatively stable job market in Western new York, where the unemployment rate of 7.5 percent in October is below the national rate of 9.6 percent.
In Western new York, 722 new bankruptcy cases were filed, including 468 in the Buffalo court and 254 in Rochester. All three totals are down more than 21 percent from October 2009. and the total tally was the lowest for the month of October in at least a decade.
For the year to date, 7,583 cases were filed in the two-city district, down 8.3 percent from 8,269 for the first 10 months of last year. That included 4,875 in Buffalo and 2,708 in Rochester.
Another 241 cases — 160 in Buffalo and 81 in Rochester — were filed under Chapter 13, where personal debts are reorganized under a repayment plan. All but 10 were individual cases.
And the Buffalo court received 11 filings under Chapter 11, in which business debts are reorganized under a repayment plan.
For the year to date, all counties except Orleans were down from the same period a year ago, with Allegany down 34.8 percent, Chautauqua down 24.3 percent and Genesee down 16 percent. Erie, with 2,994 filings so far this year, was down just 3.9 percent.
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