Georgia Holds Second Highest Bankruptcy Rate

Georgia continues to be one of the top states for personal bankruptcy, as new reports indicate that the state ranked 2nd in the nation with just shy of 13,000 bankruptcies registered during the first quarter. The only state with more bankruptcies was Tennessee.

Declaring bankruptcy is sometimes the only way for consumers and citizens to seek legal protection from creditors seeking to collect money that citizens simply don’t have, and in Georgia, roughly 1 out of 60 homeowners has sought this protection.

However, this is nothing new. Georgia has historically had one of the higher bankruptcy rates in the nation, and has rarely fallen out of the top 5 states in this category. Experts say that this is because the state attracts a lot of young entrepreneurs who attempt to go into business for themselves, and of course, some fail. This, combined with the state’s laws that make it easy for creditors to go after their debts contributes annually to one of the higher rates of bankruptcy out there.

The recent trend in foreclosures has also had a huge impact on personal bankruptcies, and Georgia is currently 8th among states in terms of foreclosure rate. Laws in Georgia also make it easy for lenders to pursue a foreclosure on indebted homeowners relatively quickly, as most homes in foreclosure end up being sold off within 40 days.

These are all signs of how deeply the housing market recession is affecting the economy, and the personal lives of so many borrowers and homeowners. Since they cannot gain anything by selling off their properties on the open market, many homeowners in Georgia seek pre-foreclosure sales to investors to rid themselves of the foreclosure, and instances of pre-foreclosure sales have been growing in the area.

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