Personal Insolvency Statistics: Overall steady; but Bankruptcies Down and Debt Agreements Up

ITSA has released the annual summary of personal insolvency statistics for the 2011-12 financial year. Personal insolvencies for the year were 31,488 which was a small decrease (.14%) on the year prior. The total number of personal insolvencies is made up of three categories and there is a change in the mix. There were:
- 22,163 new Bankruptcies which was a fall of 4%;
- 8,947 new Debt Agreements (or Part IXs). That was an increase of 11% – for those unfamiliar with Debt Agreements, they are designed for debtors with a small amount of total debts and a small annual income. The usual deal in a Debt Agreement is that the debtor agrees to pay back a specific amount per month over a three to five year period.
- 378 Personal Insolvency Agreements (or Part Xs). That was an increase of .8%. So PIAs are for higher value or complicated agreements.
So overall, roughly the same number of people are going broke. The change in the mix is just a reflection of marketing power as there are many Debt Agreement companies that market Debt Agreements heavily, whereas the same can not be said for vanilla bankruptcies.