Bankruptcy filings increased in February; 400 reported

The number of bankruptcy filings in Utah in February increased from January and also rose from the year-ago figure.

According to figures from U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah, there were 400 filings in February, up from 368 in January and 311 in February 2006. Of the total, 231 were for Chapter 7 and 169 were for Chapter 13.

So far in 2007, the court has seen 768 filings in Utah, including 413 for Chapter 7 and 354 for Chapter 13. One was for Chapter 11.

The court said filings for the first two months of this year are up 41 percent compared to the same period of 2006. Filings were low throughout 2006 because many people had rushed to file before a new bankruptcy law went into effect in October 2005.