As a single woman, Angie resided comfortably within the bounds of financial stability -- good credit and a savings account.
But the financial responsibility of the two kids who ensued slowly eroded that foundation. Angie, who requested the News-Press not use her last fake rolex name, had a high enough credit score to secure cards with $20,000 limits, but the situation on which that score was based no longer existed.
After three years, her savings account dried up, and then the credit card debt began to mount.
"I was like, 'Who would need a $20,000 credit limit?'" she said. "Before you know it, you've used a $20,000 credit limit."
Angie didn't splurge on a ton of luxury items. But a pair of new shoes here, a couple of other non-necessities there and then things like day care for her kids slowly did the trick. Eventually, she found herself buried under $40,000 of debt spread across four credit cards. The interest alone was about $700 a month.
"I really thought eventually I would have it paid," Angie said. "It just doesn't go any place."
When she needed to replace her car and couldn't, Angie realized her situation wasn't sustainable any longer and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
"It just becomes too much," she said.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Western District of Missouri recently released its 2009 figures. On this side of the state, bankruptcies rose 19 percent from 2008 to '09 -- from 12,793 to 15,257. In the St. Joseph Division, bankruptcies rose 28 percent during that span -- from 997 to 1,281.
That's the second-highest percentage increase among the five divisions with the Joplin/Carthage Division topping the list at 29 percent. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Division saw an 18-percent increase from 2008 -- 5,593 to 6,595. The Springfield (18 percent) and Jefferson City (15 percent) divisions rounded out the list. Nationally, bankruptcy rose 34.5 percent from September 2008 to September 2009.
replica breitlingTodd Griffee, a local bankruptcy attorney, said he believes Kansas City's larger job market has insulated some people there better than in St. Joseph, where even a reduction in working hours can send people with few other options into bankruptcy.
"Kansas City might be more resilient because they have a broader range of jobs," he said.
Dr. Mark Jelavich, the economics department chair at Northwest Missouri State, estimated that Kansas City's higher average incomes took more of the financial stress off people struggling during the bad economy than in St. Joseph.
Mr. Griffee and Mr. Jelavich have seen a shift in the dispersion of those numbers, as well, as a higher percentage of people declaring Chapter 13 bankruptcy (reorganization of assets) compared to Chapter 7 (liquidation). That means more people don't qualify for chapter 7 or are trying to save large assets like their homes.
From 2008 to 2009, Chapter 7s rose 27 percent in the St. Joseph Division, while Chapter 13s rose 32 percent.
"Nationally, we're starting to see more foreclosures occur at the higher end of the housing spectrum," Mr. Jelavich said, "which might again suggest that those problems are creeping up the income distribution."
Mr. Griffee believes the United States' consumerism has caught up with it and is to blame for the steady rise in bankruptcy filings since 2005 (when the codes were amended to make it har
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