A growing number of people in East Anglia are deciding to declare themselves bankrupt rather than wait to be pushed by creditors.

Analysis of the latest official insolvency statistics shows the number of people petitioning for their own bankruptcy at county courts across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire rose to 709 in the third quarter of this year - 10pc more than the same period a year ago.

The increase was most marked in Norwich, which saw 269 people petitioning for bankruptcy, a 36pc rise on the third quarter of 2007.

But the number of bankruptcy petitions in King's Lynn fell to 50 - a 17pc fall on last year - and to 111 Ipswich, down 8pc.

Nationally, the number of people in England and Wales declaring themselves bankrupt in the three months ending September 30 increased by 9pc to 14,369.

But there was a fall in the number of people using Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) by 4pc to 10,251 in the quarter July to September 2008.

Mark Sands, restructuring director with KPMG in Cambridge and East Anglia, said that combining the IVA and bankruptcy figures, 24,620 people “took the potentially life-changing step of placing themselves into personal insolvency”.

He added: “The downturn and the associated increases in unemploy-ment are starting to have an impact.

“This is being seen not only in the increase in people choosing personal insolvency but also in the related issues of increased mortgagee possessions and the greater use of charging orders by unsecured lenders who have not been paid.

“While consumers will fight to keep their family homes and both lenders and the courts have systems in place to ensure that possession is the last resort, once the property is sold there is often little reason for someone with other significant debts not to declare themselves bankrupt. For some the desperate step of selling their home before it is too late looks a forlorn hope in a property market which has almost ground to a halt.

“Many more homeowners will be hoping that the recent reduction in base rates will relieve the pressures on the household budget before they too need to resort to an IVA or take the ultimate step of petitioning for their own bankruptcy.”


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