Bankruptcy and insolvency activity in the September 2007 quarter was 4.7 per cent higher than the same quarter a year ago, despite the industry having to changeover to the new Part IX rules on July 1. Debt agreement administrators are reporting that demand continues to grow and that the average debt load of new clients is growing.The total number of debt agreements under part nine of the Bankruptcy Act (which are designed to help low-asset individuals avoid bankruptcy over relatively small consumer debts) was down 18 per cent from the June quarter, reflecting the changeover to the new system. The Insolvency and Trustee Service of Australia published quarterly data yesterday.Many debt agreements were pushed though in June to beat the new rules.The first debt agreements after June 30 were approved on August 10, meaning that this quarter's figures in effect represent only seven weeks or so of activity.Despite this, total insolvency activity in NSW and Victoria was up around 12 per cent compared to September 2006."Not only are we seeing more people in stress but their average debt loads are getting noticeably bigger," said John Beecroft, director of Croft & Gray, the operators of debtassist.com.au."We had a massive first half and everyone had a huge drive in June to get agreements finalized before 1 July, then there was a bit of a hiatus in the first few weeks of July."Beecroft has been very busy since July but has been referring increasing numbers of people to trustees because their unsecured debt load is above the limit for a part nine agreement."It's now very common for us to get people coming through with $90k to $100k in unsecured debts - today I had a woman with $300,000 in unsecured debt. We are referring more and more people to trustees for part tens." (Part X agreements replaced deed of arrangements in 2004 for people with property and higher debt loads).Beecroft says he and other administrators have requested ITSA (the government insolvency registrar) increase the limit on part nines from around $78,000 to $100,000 but that had been rejected.The marketing driven part nine industry looks set to grow further. Industry leader Fox Symes is facing real competition for the first time from Debt Free Direct, a subsidiary of Debt Free Direct UK, which has been operating in Australia for just over a year. Debt Free Direct is taking out full page advertisements in News Limited's free afternoon commuter newspapers.