Consumer bankruptcies rose 27.9% in October from a year earlier, the American Bankruptcy Institute said Wednesday.
Bankruptcy filings rose to 135,913 in October, up 8.9% from September's 124,790 filings, according to the research and education institute, which used data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.
Experts predict there still is more pain to come: The bankruptcy institute said it expects consumer filings to top 1.4 million by the end of the year — the largest number since 2005.
"The debt overhang from literally a decade or more of really high consumer spending and low savings rates has put families in a particularly vulnerable spot," said Samuel J. Gerdano, the bankruptcy institute's executive director.
