by Nick Delgado

Guam - The number of Guam residents filing for bankruptcy has been steady for the last three years. According to assistant United States Trustee Attorney Curtis Ching, the territory's highest number to file for bankruptcy was at 450 in a single year. He says that number has since dropped to from the low- to mid-200s with 239 filing so far for 2012.

Ching, who spoke before the Guam Chamber of Commerce, says statistics show bankruptcy filings nation-wide are down. "A few years ago there was probably 1.5 million total filing for bankruptcy in a single year and when you factor the fact that many are joint filings meaning husband and wife then we are talking about way more than 1.5 people filing for bankruptcy and I think now when my weekly report had sometimes up to 30 thousand filings in a single week, the report now is more typically 25,000, 20,000, the week before was 15,000," he said.

Ching adds consumers often file for bankruptcy due to excessive credit bard debt, job loss, or uninsured medical care.