Daily News Sources on Bankruptcy
New York Times Topic Pages
CreditSlips Blog
Active discussion of news of the day by bankruptcy law professors and lawyers. A good source of links to newsworthy events in politics and finance that affect the world of credit and bankruptcy. Includes active discussions of:
InsideARM.com
An excellent, well-organized archive of timely articles on economic data affecting the debt and credit industry. The link below is for Credit Card news, but be sure to hover your cursor over the News & Analysis link for a list of other areas you can search:
Bankruptcy & Economic Statistics
Numbers to Watch & Where to Find Them
You can follow credit bubbles as they pop and splatter their way through our financial institutions at https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases, where the Federal Reserve posts monthly reports that track the effects of the credit crisis on America's economic infrastructure.
If the flow of money fuels American capitalism, then these reports are the fuel gauges. The Fed's unglamorous reports give us hard data on how much money is coursing through the American economy.
- Monthly G.19 Reports. These are the reports on consumer borrowing, both traditional loans (such as car loans) and "revolving debt," also known as credit cards. Each month, the Fed lists Americans' total amount on our credit card bills. The amounts are staggering -- and show no signs of shrinking. Read more at https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/.
- The "charge off" rate. This is the percent of loans, including credit card balances, that the lender has written off as uncollectible. The latest figures show at what rate banks are giving up on the credit card amounts owed to them. More information here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/chargeoff/.
- The savings rate. This data shows how much Americans are saving each year.: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/PSAVERT. For other Fed research data on personal spending, see https://www.bea.gov/national/index.htm#personal.
- The bankruptcy filing rate. How many people are filing for bankruptcy, and for what kind (Chapter 7 or 13) and where (Statistics by District). The US court system keeps this data, updated monthly and can be found here: https://www.uscourts.gov/bnkrpctystats/statistics.htm.
You can get other important numbers and information from non-governmental sources, including:
- RealtyTrac, which offers one-stop shopping for the latest foreclosure statistics and news
- InsideARM.com, which offers an excellent, well-organized archive of timely articles on economic data affecting the debt and credit industry. The link below is for Credit Card news, but be sure to hover your cursor over the News & Analysis link for a list of other areas you can search: https://www.insidearm.com/go/tags/credit%20card.
Bankruptcy Filing info By District
The best place to find data about bankruptcy filings by district in the United States is the United States Courts website. They offer two main resources:
1. Caseload Statistics Data Tables:
- This section provides various statistical reports on the federal judiciary, including bankruptcy filings.
- You can specifically access the "Bankruptcy Filings" report, further categorized by sub-topics like:
- U.S. Bankruptcy Courts - Business and Nonbusiness Cases Filed, by Chapter of the Bankruptcy Code, District, and County (Report F-5A): This report breaks down filings by chapter, district, and county, updated quarterly (ending March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31).
- U.S. Bankruptcy Courts - Bankruptcy Cases Filed, Terminated, and Pending (Report F-09):This report offers broader statistics on filings, terminations, and pending cases by district and national totals, updated quarterly.
2. Bankruptcy Filings Statistics:
- This dedicated page provides an overview of bankruptcy filing statistics and links to various resources:
- Data visualization dashboard: This interactive dashboard allows you to visualize bankruptcy filings by district, chapter, and time period.
- Report F-5A download: You can directly download the latest F-5A report in different formats (CSV, Excel, etc.).
- Additional reports: Explore other reports like historical data and analysis on bankruptcy trends.
Data Update Frequency:
- Both the Caseload Statistics Data Tables and Bankruptcy Filings Statistics are updated quarterly,typically within a few weeks after the quarter ends.
Downloading and API Access:
- Downloading: Most reports are available for download in various formats like CSV, Excel, and PDF.You can directly download them from the respective report pages.
- API Access: Unfortunately, the US Courts website doesn't currently offer direct API access to bankruptcy filing data. However, you can download the data in machine-readable formats (CSV,Excel) and utilize web scraping tools or libraries to extract and integrate the data into your applications.
Here are the specific links to the resources mentioned above:
- Caseload Statistics Data Tables: https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/caseload-statistics-data-tables
- Bankruptcy Filings Statistics: https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/analysis-reports/bankruptcy-filings-statistics
Other Free Audio/Video About the Debt & Credit Industry
From the 2008 crisis
Bankrupt: Maxed Out in America
This is a one-hour radio documentary and website about bankruptcy in America from American RadioWorks and Marketplace from American Public Radio
See also: "The boom in going bust" -- a report by Marketplace reporter Chris Farrell on a day in bankruptcy court.
This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money
This AmericanLife/NPR episode presents one of the clearest explanations of how the housing crisis happened. One hour long.
See also: this update of the original episode.
Media Reports on How the Credit Card Industry Reaps Billions in Profits From Distressed Debtors
Feeling bad about your bankruptcy?
Don't.
The banking industry has made a calculated science of reaping billions of profits from distressed debtors. By casting a wide net to grant credit to everyone, the real "sweet spot" for banks is the distressed debtor that is caught a never-ending cycle of penalties, fees, and exorbitant interest rates (that would have been illegal a generation ago)
NY Times/PBS Frontline:
The Secret History of the Credit Card
The issues covered in this 2004 documentary are still current, and worth watching. It's an excellent recounting by PBS and The New York Times of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling almost 20 years ago opened the door to abusive lending practices and the rise of the modern credit card industry. After watching this, you'll understand why your credit card company is probably based in South Dakota or Delaware.
PBS: Frontline Video and Articles
NY Times: Articles
Bill Moyers on the social impact of the mortgage meltdown
How unregulated subprime lending destroyed the housing stock of Cleveland
Excellent report on how lack of regulation allowed "usury" to no longer be a crime, and allowed predatory lenders to sell financial snake-oil all without regulation.
Describes how the inevitable logic of human greed, left unregulated, led banks to make billions by peddling financial snake-oil to naive, cash strapped consumers to sign the equity in their their paid-for houses as collateral for loans they would never be able to pay.... And now whole neighborhoods lie abandoned and falling into ruin, resulting in further loss of wealth base in communities that can ill affford it.
So much for the invisible hand....
What We're Reading About Debt & Bankruptcy
Here's a list of articles that we think would be of interest to our readers, worthy of sharing because of their quality and reliability.