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The downward trend in Hawaii bankruptcy filings seems to be stalling.
Statewide cases edged up 1.8 percent in May over the year-earlier period and have now risen for four of the past six months, according to new data from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii.
Bankruptcies have declined for six straight years since 2010 amid a solid state economy buoyed by record tourist arrivals, low unemployment, a booming construction industry and record-high housing prices. And they are down again — 5.9 percent — through the first five months of this year.
Last month, though, the number of filings edged up to 114 from 112 in May 2016 after two straight down months. Filings also rose each month from December through February.
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Bankruptcy filings in May rose from a year ago.
2017 2016 PCT. CHANGE
Chapter 7 87 76 14.5%
Liquidation
Chapter 11 1 0 —
Business reorganization
Chapter 13 26 36 -27.8%
Individuals with regular sources of income set up plans to pay creditors over time.
Total 114 112 1.8%
Source: U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii
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“It seems like we’re in that cycle again where the economy is doing better so people are beginning to get into more debt again,” Honolulu bankruptcy attorney Greg Dun said Friday. “I’m beginning to see that we are filing more bankruptcies in my office in the last three months than from last year at this time. This has been the longest growth — for the last nine or 10 years — since the last recession. So we may be due for another one — maybe at the end of this year or maybe next year.”
Through the first five months of the year, there have been 540 cases compared with 574 during the same time frame in 2016. At that pace there will be 1,296 bankruptcy cases this year — the lowest number since 955 were filed in 2006. Statewide filings have been flat or down from the year-earlier period for 67 of the past 74 months.
Chapter 7 liquidation — the most common type of bankruptcy — rose 14.5 percent in May to 87 from 76 in the year-earlier period.
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, fell 27.8 percent to 26 from 36.
There was one Chapter 11 reorganization case last month compared with none in the year-earlier period. Chapter 11 filings typically involve businesses.
Across the state, the number of filings was mixed in the four major counties from the year-earlier period. Bankruptcies in Honolulu County increased to 79 from 74 and in Kauai County rose to 10 from seven. Hawaii County filings fell to seven from 10, and Maui County filings dropped to 18 from 21.
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