Metro Phoenix bankruptcy filings fall at fast clip

Plenty of Arizonans continue to struggle financially, but their stress isn’t showing up in bankruptcy filings: The number of Valley residents seeking protection in February fell at the fastest pace in nearly 6 1/2 years.

Throughout metro Phoenix, 1,059 individuals and businesses started bankruptcies last month, down nearly 35 percent from February 2012, according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix.

Filings have dropped for the past 25 months when compared with the same month in the previous year. The cyclical peak of 3,063 bankruptcies was reached in March 2010. The most recent results showed the best rate of improvement since October 2006 — one year after the numbers were distorted by a change in the law making it less advantageous to file.

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