Rate cut may spur 're-fi boom'

I don't want to say we're going into a recession, but if I was a betting man I would say we're going into a recession, Beverage said. The size of consumer debt right now is almost scary. Last year, 8,748 bankruptcy filings were recorded in Oklahoma's three federal districts. That was up from 6,669 filings in 2006. However, totals in earlier years were much higher. In 2004, the last full calendar year before the major changes enacted in bankruptcy laws, 26,348 bankruptcies were filed in Oklahoma. Nationally, consumer bankruptcy filings last year rose nearly 40 percent over 2006, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. The roughly 40 percent spike in consumer bankruptcies during 2007 presages even higher filings this year, as the heavy consumer debt load is made worse by the home mortgage crisis, Institute Executive Director Samuel J. read more