Bankruptcies down as economy ascends

Hawaii bankruptcy filings keep declining amid low unemployment and a record labor force.

In February, bankruptcies decreased 11.4 percent to 132 from 149 in the year-earlier period, according to data released Monday by U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii. Statewide filings have been flat or down for 47 months in a row.

Honolulu bankruptcy attorney Rick Abelmann expects the number of filings to pick up in the coming months.

"We tend to get a burst in filings from February through May, and it looks from our perspective it’s going to continue this year. We’ve had an additional bump in increased traffic the last four to six weeks," Abelmann said.

The reason bankruptcy filings could get a bump at this time of the year is taxpayers receiving refunds that can be used to pay their fees, holiday spending that puts people over the edge, or New Year’s resolutions by people who want to take care of problems they have been putting off, he said.

In addition, there are a couple of dark clouds looming in the near future, Abelmann said.

"There are still zombie properties out there where the owner has not made a payment in one, two, three or four years but the bank hasn’t yet initiated foreclosure proceedings," he said. "There’s also a lot of foreclosure cases filed one to three years ago that really haven’t moved from the initial complaint phase. But probably the biggest driver in the next one to three years will be the resetting of loan modification rates. People are going to be seeing their mortgage payments increasing by a percentage point every year that goes by, and that will put increased pressure on their ability to cover their monthly costs."

In the meantime Hawaii continues to benefit from the improving economy. The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization both issued reports last week predicting moderate growth for this year.

Their forecasts come after three straight years of record visitor arrivals and record visitor spending, an unemployment rate of 4 percent — tied for sixth lowest in the nation — and a record civilian labor force of 671,600.

Hawaii bankruptcy filings fell last year for the fourth year in a row and reached their lowest level since the recession.

"The economy is improving, fewer people are on unemployment and fewer people are looking at foreclosure," Abelmann said. "There are also people out there who may have financial difficulty, but even if they have collection calls, have judgments coming up or have people seeking debt collection activity from them, they don’t have anything to protect at this point because they don’t have property anymore because they’ve already been foreclosed upon. So they’re not worried about people trying to put a lien on their property, and if they don’t have wages, they’re not worried about people garnishing their wages until they’re employed again."

Last month Chapter 7 liquidation — the most common type of bankruptcy — fell 9.3 percent to 97 from 107. Chapter 13 filings, which allow individuals with regular sources of income to set up plans to pay creditors over time, declined 21.4 percent to 33 from 42.

And there were two Chapter 11 filings, which allow businesses to reorganize, compared with none in February 2014. One Chapter 11 filing was by Hawaii-based retailer Pomare Ltd., parent company of Hilo Hattie; and the other was by Gap Fitness Partners LLC, the parent of World Gym Hono­lulu.

Statewide, bankruptcies fell last month in all four counties. In Hono­lulu County bankruptcies dropped to 82 from 93, Hawaii County filings declined to 17 from 22, Maui County bankruptcies slipped to 27 from 28 and in Kauai County filings fell to six from seven.