AACER: Bankruptcy Filings Down Nearly 20 Percent Year-Over-Year in May

Bankruptcy filings in May 2015 were down nearly 20 percent from the same month a year earlier and down by nearly 50 percent from their peak total five years ago, according to May 2015 AACER bankruptcy data reported by Epiq Systems.

In May 2015, there were 69,286 total bankruptcy filings, down from May 2014's total of 85,711. May 2015's total also represented a month-over-month decline from April's total of 77,884, although there were two fewer filing days in May (20) than there were in April (22). Had filings continued at their May rate of 3,464 filings per day for two more days, May's total of filings would have been less than 2,000 fewer than April's.

May's number of average filings per day (3,464) represented a slight decline from April's number of 3,542. The lowest average filings per day total this year was in January (2,954). Cumulative filings for the first five months of the year totaled 353,006, an average of 70,601 per month.

Since May 2010, when 133,647 bankruptcy filings were reported for the month nationwide, the number of filings has declined steadily every May. The total number of filings for May 2015 (69,286) experienced nearly a 48 percent decline from the peak total reached in May 2010.

Among states, California has the most cumulative filings for the first five months of 2015 with 35,965. The next closest state, Illinois, has more than 11,000 fewer at 24,520. Florida is a close third at 24,131. Georgia and Ohio rounded out the top five. In filings per capita (based on the population estimate dated July 1, 2009), Tennessee and Alabama ranked first and second as they did every month from January through April with 5.61 and 5.18 filings for every 10,000 people, respectively. There numbers represented slight declines from April's per capita averages of 5.63 and 5.24 for Tennessee and Alabama, respectively.

The national average in bankruptcy filings per capita for May (2.73) was virtually unchanged from April (2.74)

Epiq Systems is a leading global provider of technology-enabled solutions for electronic discovery, bankruptcy and class action administration. Top legal professionals depend on us for deep subject-matter expertise and years of firsthand experience working on many of the largest, most high-profile and complex client engagements. Epiq Systems, Inc. has locations in the United States, Europe and Asia.