Iowa bankruptcy slowdown may not be due to recovering economy

A steep downturn in Iowa bankruptcies this year may have relatively little to do with the economic recovery.

Bankruptcies in Iowa ran 19.1 percent below 2010 levels during the first 11 months of 2011, according to court statistics, falling from 9,069 to 7,337. December filings aren't likely to change the trend, since December is typically one of the year's slowest months for bankruptcy filings.

It's been a hard trend to ignore for veteran debt attorneys such as Rush Shortley, who's been working in bankruptcy since the farm crisis of the early 1980s.

"I know that this fall I've been able to catch up on my work, which is an indication to me that the workload is slowing down," said Shortley, who has offices in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

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