Bankruptcies’ downward trend may end this year, expert says

Hawaii bankruptcies dried up in January as the number of people seeking debt relief fell below 100 in a month for only the fourth time in 10 years.

Although recent economic forecasts indicate slowing growth for the state, the downward trend of bankruptcy filings largely has remained intact with statewide filings flat or down from the year-earlier period for 65 of the past 70 months.

The 96 cases in January ticked up from 95 a year ago, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii. The only other times there were fewer than 100 bankruptcy cases during a month were January 2007 (89) and November 2016 (92).

Honolulu bankruptcy attorney Lars Peterson said the downward trend could reach an end this year.

“Generally, around the holiday time the filings are a little bit slower,” said Peterson, of the law firm Abelmann Peterson Rollins LLLC. “It does pick up at the beginning of the year, frequently going into tax season. The current number of 96, with the small increase, it’s too early to see how the year will develop, but there has been general consensus that the bankruptcy filings which have gone down for years are kind of bottoming out and will slowly increase again moderately.”

In 2016, Hawaii bankruptcies fell for the sixth year in a row, with the 1,382 cases marking the lowest level since 1,381 in 2007.

Peterson attributes much of the decline in bankruptcies to a change in the state’s foreclosure law in mid-2011.

“It used to be we were dealing with a number of nonjudicial foreclosures, which mostly have been eliminated now,” he said. “The only group that is actually filing non-judicial foreclosures are the homeowners’ associations. The lenders are basically staying away from that. There has been a lot of uncertainty due to the foreclosure changes.”

In a nonjudicial foreclosure, the lender claims the borrower is in default and can repossess the house unless the borrower remedies the situation. In the more time-consuming judicial foreclosure, a borrower receives a summons that a complaint has been filed in Circuit Court and is given the right to respond. A judge ultimately decides if a home is repossessed.

Peterson said under the Obama administration there also were a lot of programs rolled out, such as the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which provided a remedy for borrowers to avoid bankruptcy.

“That might change under the new administration,” he said. “For example, HAMP has expired and has not been renewed.”

Peterson said he expects bankruptcy filings to increase by about 100 this year from the 1,382 in 2016.

“There’s evidence that there are more problems with distressed properties,” he said. “There’s also an uptick in per-capita household credit card debt, which is usually an indication that people can’t catch up with their bills anymore.”

Among the different chapters of bankruptcies, Chapter 7 liquidation — the most common type of bankruptcy — dipped 3 percent last month to 64 from 66.

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, rose 18.5 percent to 32 from 27.

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

Across the state, the number of filings was mixed among the four major counties. Bankruptcies in Honolulu County rose to 63 from 56 and edged up in Kauai County to five from four. In Hawaii County, bankruptcy filings fell to 11 from 14, and in Maui County declined to 17 from 21.