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By HANK EZELL

Cox News Service

October 16, 2005

ATLANTA — The growing staff of counselors at the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta thinks Monday, Oct. 17th will be a slow day.

That might seem surprising, given that the CCCS here is one of a handful of agencies that have been approved to give bankruptcy counseling to people almost everywhere in the United States.

The law raises the hurdles for people who want to declare bankruptcy, either with repayment plans or by canceling their debts.

Consequently, bankruptcy courts everywhere have been inundated in recent weeks by people beating the deadline.

"It's driven by almost an irrational fear of what's to come," said Sam Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute. "Bankruptcy will still be available on Oct. 17, but there may not be anybody left to file."

In the northern third of Georgia, 3,662 people declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy — asking to cancel their debts — in September. That is 91 percent higher than the number for September 2004.

"There is enough of a rush that we think demand will slack off a little," said spokeswoman Gay Watson at the Atlanta CCCS.

Still, the 41-year-old agency is preparing for increasing demand. A month ago the agency had 53 counselors. It has since hired another 10, and it expects to top out soon at 75.

The more stringent law comes at a tough time for American consumers. A survey released last week showed that total credit card debt now stands at about $800 billion. That is up 31 percent since 2000.

The average credit card debt of low- and middle-income indebted households was $8,650, according to the study from Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending.

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