For Creditors, a Bankruptcy Double-Whammy.(reform legislation)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

The uncertain fate of bankruptcy reform in Washington has created a kind of worst-case scenario for creditors: accelerating filings with dwindling prospects of legislative relief.

Bankruptcy lawyers have capitalized on the shifting landscape, using billboards and pop-up alerts on Web sites of lawyers to pitch their services, in some cases using the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2001 as a marketing pitch for filing now rather than risking the more rigid guidelines of the proposed law.

Though the bill was passed by both the House and the Senate in March and is supported by President Bush, its passage is by no means a certainty. The bill is currently waiting to come before a House-Senate conference committee, and, depending on whom you ask, the recent shift to the Democrats in the Senate may either complicate or ease passage.

Whatever reason is attributed to the rise in …