Yearly Hawaii Bankruptcies on the Rise

The total number of Hawaii bankruptcies in 2023 is up over 9% over the previous year.

In 2024, the increase in bankruptcies continued and even increased. In January 2024, bankruptcies in Hawaii are up 34%!

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Cases Up

The most dramatic increase is in the Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings – up 80% in January 2024 over last year.

There was a startling increase of over 40% in the number of bankruptcy filings in Hawaii during January 2019. According to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records this increase marks the highest level of bankruptcy filings in the state in seven years. This increase marks a sudden end to the state’s seven-year decrease in filings. 

Bankruptcy Filings Breakdown

There was a significant increase in filings on all three of the Hawaiian Islands. On the island of Oahu filings jumped from 81 to 107. Filings on the Big Island were 16, which is a pretty big jump from the five filed last year. And, on Kauai there were 11 filings in 2019, but only three in that last year  

There was a significant increase in the number of Chapter 7 bankruptcies also. This January’s total was 103 while last year there were only 64 recorded during the same time period. 

What Do the Trends Say? 

According to historical trends, there will be a continuing rise in bankruptcy filings over the next five or six years. Historical trends being monitored since 1990 show that bankruptcy filings tend to follow an eight-year cycle. The numbers prove that the state is right on track with the eight-year cycle and there will most likely be an increase in filings for at least the next few years.

Will filings continue to rise? No one knows for sure. February filings showed a flattening out across all types of bankruptcy to 2018 levels.