ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute reported this week that bankruptcy filings are up 9 percent over last month and the previous year.

More specifically, bankruptcy filings came in at 137,698 in July, compared with 126,434 in July of last year, based on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.

In June 2010, the data showed that bankruptcy filings came in at 126,270.

Chapter 13 filings represented 28 percent of all consumer cases in July, which is up slightly from June.

"Debt burdens, unemployment and uncertain economic climate continues to weigh on consumers," explained Samuel Gerdano, ABI's executive director.

"The pace of consumer filings this year remains on track to top 1.6 million filings," he concluded.