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04 November 2005
Consumer bankruptcies smashed their previous record in the third quarter of this year, according to results published today.
An incredible 17,562 personal insolvency cases, including 12,043 bankruptcies, were reported by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) a 46 per cent increase on the figures from a year ago.
This means that cases are now at their highest in number since similar records began in 1960, and that a total of 60,102 individual insolvencies have been announced over the past 12 months.
Pat Boyden, an insolvency expert at Pricewaterhousecoopers, confirmed to the BBC the apparent consensus that high levels of personal debt are to blame for the figures.
He said: "Last year we went through the £1 trillion barrier, with the amount we owe on mortgages, credit cards and personal loans. Well it is 12% more in the last 12 months.".
"The increase in bankruptcies is a reflection of the amount we've borrowed.".
The most significant surge has been in Individual Voluntary Arrangements an alternative to traditional bankruptcy whose number has almost doubled since this stage of 2004.
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