On every index, personal and business bankruptcies in the United States are declining significantly.
But that doesn’t mean that everything is financially sound in households or small businesses in Ohio or the nation.
“The Tsunami has not yet come. I think some thought it would be here already. The talk now is after the start of the year. If it’s going to come, it will come then,” said bankruptcy attorney Jon Liberman, a partner at the firm of Sottile & Barile, of Cleveland, and the co-chair of American Bankruptcy Institute’s Consumer Committee.
The tidal wave of new bankruptcy filings that Mr. Lieberman speaks of, has been on the minds of many in the bankruptcy field due to the current recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Credit card debt is back up there, medical bills are up there, and you have subprime auto loans again. The cost of living has gone up and wages have not, so obviously we’re all sitting back and waiting for the phones to start exploding again,” said bankruptcy attorney Gordon Barry, of the Toledo law firm of Barry & Feit.
Since the pandemic began, bankruptcy filings have been trending downward.
In August, filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Toledo, which covers 21 counties in northwest Ohio, totaled just 221 cases — a drop of 42 percent from a year ago and the sixth straight month this year that cases have fallen from 2019.
Cases fell 4 percent in March, 46 percent in April, 38 percent in May, 19 percent in June, and 35 percent in July.
