Bay Area Bankruptcy Cases Skyrocket In 2010
SAN JOSE (KCBS) - The number of people filing for bankruptcy reached record levels in some parts of the Bay Area last year.
Bankruptcies climbed 16 percent from 2009 levels in the South Bay, where courts in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties recorded a total of 13,366 bankruptcies for the year, said bankruptcy attorney James "Ike" Shulman.
KCBS' Tim Ryan Reports:
Many bankruptcy cases are tied to foreclosures, he said.
"The picture for loan modifications has been dismal. People get very little from their banks. They get very little relief," Schulman said.
Courts in Alameda and Contra Costa counties saw bankruptcies climb about 20 percent from 2009 to 2010, a dismal figure compared to the national rise of nine percent.
Unemployment also drove bankruptcy claims.
Schulman said losing jobless benefits could be especially painful for people in their 50s and 60s who are too young to retire but have been effectively retired from the workforce and find themselves without medical care.
"A lot of them are surviving on unemployment while they're sending out hundreds or thousands of resumes," he said.
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