Every state has been hit hard by financial difficulties over the past few years. The US has been going through a recession, the job market has been terrible, and the housing/mortgage crisis has impacted millions. Like other states, Arizona too, has seen its share of financial difficulties. As a matter of fact, Arizona has been hit a bit harder than many other states when it comes to financial issues.
In 2007, Arizona residents were doing okay, in relation to the rest of the country. The state ranked 40th in terms of bankruptcy claims. When you consider the fact that they country was already well into some serious financial difficulties at this point, being 40th out of 50 states was not a bad place to be.
Flash forward three years to 2010. Arizona is ranked 13th in bankruptcy filings for the US. This is a huge leap, and it reflects some of the serious unemployment, mortgage and general financial issues suffered by the people of Arizona. Jumping from 40th to 13th is a
tangible indicator of just how bad things have been, financially, for the citizens of Arizona.
Though things seem to be improving for the nation’s economy, the effects of this upswing could take some time to reach Arizona, or any individual state for that matter. In the first quarter of 2010, there was no marked reduction in the number of bankruptcies filed in Arizona. In total, over 9,000 bankruptcies were filed during this time. This is still a significant amount of filings, so it appears that recovery may be very slow indeed.
Of the Arizona bankruptcy filings for that first quarter of 2010, 18% of them were for Chapter 13 bankruptcies, and a whopping 82% were for Chapter 7 bankruptcies.
The most recent trends on Wall Street do show that the economy will begin to improve more in the near future, but, again, these improvements are not going to be felt by everyone right away. Financial professionals in Arizona remain hopeful, though, that the bankruptcy filings in the state will begin to decline during the next calendar year.
Elle Wood recommends Dault Law if you are contemplating filing bankruptcy. Brian Dault offers Bankruptcy counseling and is one of the leading Phoenix bankruptcy lawyers in Arizona. The Dault Law Team focuses on providing quality legal services for consumers and small businesses at affordable prices.