Bankruptcy filings fall to decade low

Hawaii’s stable economy has pushed down bankruptcy filings to near 10-year lows.

The 92 cases in November plunged 32 percent from the year-earlier period to the lowest monthly level since January 2007, when there were 89 filings, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii. Since the start of 2007, there have been only three occasions when there were fewer than 100 bankruptcy cases filed in a month. The only other time was in January 2016, when there were 95 cases. There were 136 cases filed in November 2015.

“Once you get into the holidays, people kind of become disengaged in the process and get back into it for the new year,” Honolulu bankruptcy attorney William Bullard said. “But it’s definitely a lot slower this year than this same time in past years. I guess the economy is getting better.”

A resilient tourism industry, a strong housing market and robust construction activity have boosted the state’s growth, according to local economists.

“Maybe more people are working now, but the thing is everybody has a unique position,” Bullard said. “It could be health issues, loss of jobs, all kinds of things. It’s hard to say there’s one reason why bankruptcies are going down, but with that number you probably would have to think it’s because the economy is getting better.”

Statewide filings have been flat or down from the year-earlier period for 65 of the past 68 months. For the first 11 months of this year, bankruptcies were down 14 percent from the year-earlier period. At that pace the state will finish the year with 1,378 bankruptcies. That would be the lowest total since 1,381 were filed in 2007.

Among the different chapters of bankruptcies, Chapter 7 liquidation — the most common type of bankruptcy — declined 42 percent last month to 52 from 89. It was the fewest Chapter 7 cases in a month since February 2006, when 48 were filed.

Bullard said it makes sense that Chapter 7 cases have been dropping dramatically with an improving economy.

“You don’t want to file a Chapter 7 if you have a lot of equity in a home,” he said. “If you want to keep the property, you’re looking at filing a Chapter 13 where there’s a mechanism to make payments in arrears through a trustee.”

Chapter 13 filings, which allow individuals with regular sources of income to set up plans to make installment payments to creditors over three to five years, dropped 13 percent to 40 from 46.

There were no Chapter 11 cases last month, compared with one in the same month a year ago. Chapter 11 bankruptcies typically involve business reorganization.

Across the state, the number of filings decreased in all four major counties. Bankruptcies in Honolulu County fell to 69 from 85, declined in Hawaii County to eight from 11, dropped in Maui County to 12 from 36 and dipped in Kauai County to three from four.