BANKRUPTCY

More individuals with college degrees are finding themselves in bankruptcy, according to a new study released by the Institute for Financial Literacy. The financial crisis appears to be taking its toll on individuals who had previously been able to keep up on their debts.

College Grads Filing for Bankruptcy Increases 20 Percent

The number of bankruptcies filed by Americans topped 1.53 million last year as a result of long-term high unemployment rates and depressed home prices. Many people were unable to successfully make ends meet and therefore, sought court protection to clean their slates.

Bankruptcies Jumped 9 Percent from 2009

When it comes to personal finance, there’s a lot of misinformation that continues to circulate, especially on the internet. Rumors and even flat out lies are presented as truth and can lead the average person to make unnecessary mistakes that will negatively impact their financial well-being.

We’ve decided to round up the most common myths that people believe as true and give you the facts so you can make more informed decisions regarding your money, beginning with debt:

Once you find yourself in debt, it may feel like there are no possibilities of fixing your situation. However, there are ways to eliminate your debt without having to opt for bankruptcy. Some options may take months, while others may take years. But you can pay down and eventually pay off your debt if you really try.

The following three steps can help you get out of debt:

If you’re filing a bankruptcy and decide that you want to liquidate your property using state property exemptions, you will qualify for specific federal non-bankruptcy exemptions. However, it’s good to know that federal non-bankruptcy exemptions and federal bankruptcy exemptions cannot be used simultaneously – you must use one or the other. Let’s take a closer look at what this means.

Exemptions

Collection agencies are getting a bad reputation these for taking on abusive debt collection practices–and rightly so because most complaints are founded in truth. While all debt collectors don’t utilize negative tactics to collect money, some are very guilty of crossing the line. If you think you’ve been a victim of this type of activity, you’ll want to read more about what can be done to stop it from going too far.

Why Debt Collectors are Going too Far

A bankruptcy claim is seen by most people as one of the worst possible financial situations and something that will haunt them, their credit history and credit report forever.

In truth, personal bankruptcy saves many people’s financial situations and there are banks out there which can be considered bankruptcy-friendly. You may have to start with baby steps, but you can get on the road to improved credit nonetheless.

People who have declared bankruptcy can take comfort in the fact that there are bankruptcy-friendly banks out there.

A recent report from the American Bankruptcy Institute revealed that bankruptcy filings were up 14 percent during the first half of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. This increase represented a total of 770,117 filings through June of this year.

A new report released by the American Bankruptcy Institute has revealed that bankruptcy filings skyrocketed during the first half of 2010, increasing by 14 percent. The total number of filings from January to June was 770,117, which was a significant increase over the 675,351 filings seen during the same period last year.

Samuel Gerdano, the executive director of the institute, expects there will be more than 1.6 million new bankruptcy filings by the end of this year.

According to a recent report from the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), the total number of bankruptcies filed in the third quarter soared 33 percent.

According to the data released by the institute on Wednesday, this number marks the highest level of bankruptcies since 2005.

Data from the ABI, Other Reports

According to the ABI report, 388,485 bankruptcies were filed during the third quarter. This number shows a significant increase from 2008 when in the same quarter 292,291 bankruptcies were filed. In other comparison data, filings for the first nine months of the year were said to have climbed 35 percent to 1,100,035 as compared to 2008′s filings of the same period, which were 841,496.