NEW YORK (AP) -- Personal bankruptcy filings fell for the first time in four years in 2011 as consumers showed restraint in borrowing and paid down existing debt, Fitch Ratings service said Wednesday.
Personal bankruptcy filings declined to 1.35 million last year. That's 11.6 percent fewer than the 1.53 million filed in 2010, according to National Bankruptcy Research Center figures.
Fitch analysts had expected a smaller drop of 5 percent.
The decline helped drive down the level of credit card debt that issuers are writing off as uncollectible. Credit card charge-offs, which are directly affected by bankruptcy filings, fell more than 37 percent by the end of 2011, compared with the end of 2010, Fitch said.
There are no comments yet