**GAO-09-28**                      Published: Dec 18, 2008. Publicly Released: Jan 21, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

There have been long-standing questions about a lack of comprehensive and reliable information on consumer bankruptcies. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (Bankruptcy Reform Act) required the federal judiciary's Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) to collect and report certain additional bankruptcy statistics and required the U.S. Trustee Program, which oversees bankruptcy case administration, to develop uniform final reports that provide certain specified data about each case. GAO was asked to examine the (1) availability and accessibility of data from the personal bankruptcy system and (2) potential benefits and limitations of the new data requirements of the Bankruptcy Reform Act in addressing these issues. GAO examined bankruptcy data systems and obtained documentation and interviewed staff from AOUSC, bankruptcy courts, and the Trustee Program; groups representing consumers and creditors; data providers; and academic researchers and other stakeholders.

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## Topics

Health Care

BankruptcyData collectionData integrityDatabasesDebtDebt collectionElectronic recordsElectronic records managementFederal courtsGovernment information disseminationInformation accessInformation managementInformation securityInformation storage and retrievalJudicial reformLegal recordsProgram managementRecords managementReporting requirementsStatistical dataBankruptcy trusteesData sharing