A person arrives at the U.S. District Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, on Jan. 9, 2020. Brendan McDermid/Reuters
A total of 249,152 individual Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings were made in the first nine months of this year in the United States, which is a 15 percent jump compared to the same period last year, the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) said in an Oct. 3 statement.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy, also known as liquidation bankruptcy, involves a court-appointed trustee selling off an individual’s nonexempt assets to pay off creditors. It can discharge certain debts, with the individual no longer obliged to pay them.
