The number of people and businesses in Tampa Bay seeking bankruptcy protection -- from creditors, the recession and the housing crisis -- soared nearly 50 percent last year, figures released today show.
During the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 57,956 people and businesses filed for all forms of bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's middle district of Florida. The middle district encompasses Central Florida, Southwest Florida and the Jacksonville area, but excludes South Florida and Northwest Florida.
The numbers for the district are up 49.7 percent from the same 12 months last year, when 38,725 people and businesses filed for bankruptcy protection, according to new data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Florida's middle district is faring worse than the nation overall. During the same 12-month period, the number of bankruptcy filings nationwide rose by 34.5 percent.
Over the year, 54,967 individuals and other "non-businesses" filed for bankruptcy in the district, which was up 49.5 percent from the previous year. Meanwhile, 2,989 businesses in the district filed for bankruptcy, a jump of 51.8 percent over the year.
While the year-over-year figures look bad, it seems the increase in bankruptcy filings is slowing from one quarter to the next.
In the three months ended Sept. 30, 16,632 people and businesses filed for bankruptcy protection in Florida's middle district. That was up just 3 percent over the three months ended June 30, when 16,145 people and businesses sought the court's protection.
When isolated from individual filers, the number of businesses filing for bankruptcy fell. During the three months ended Sept. 30, 814 businesses filed for bankruptcy. That was down 3 percent from the three months ended June 30, when 842 businesses filed.
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