Personal Bankruptcy Filings Soar Past One Million

It's ugly out there, very ugly.

Consumer bankruptcies totaled 1,046,449 filings through the first nine months of 2009. This is the first time since the 2005 bankruptcy overhaul that filings have surged past the 1 million mark during the first three calendar quarters of a year, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

The ABI is now forecasting an additional 350,000 bankruptcies before the year is over.

"Bankruptcy filings continue to climb as consumers look to shelter themselves from the effects of rising unemployment rates and housing debt," said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. "The consumer filing total through the first nine months is consistent with our expectation that consumer bankruptcies will top 1.4 million in 2009."

The September 2009 consumer filing total reached 124,790, a 41 percent increase from the 88,663 consumer filings in September 2008. The September 2009 filings also represented a 4 percent increase over the 119,874 filings in August 2009 and it is the fourth highest single month since the 2005 law change.