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While bankruptcy filings nationwide in February continued their trend of year-over-year decline since the foreclosure crisis peaked in 2010, the number of filings rose slightly from January to February, according to AACER bankruptcy data reported by Epiq Systems.
While February featured one fewer filing day than January did (19 compared to 20), bankruptcy filings nationwide totaled 65,002 for February, up from 59, 050 in January (an increase of 10 percent). Total filings computed to an average of 3,421 per day in February compared with 2,953 per day in January.
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Since February 2010, when 117,988 bankruptcy filings were reported for the month nationwide, the number of filings has declined steadily every February. February 2015's total number of filings (65,002) is a 10 percent decrease from the total reported in February 2014 (72,267) and a 40 percent decrease from the peak total reached in February 2010. February's total is also a drop from 2014's monthly average, which was 75,840.
The total number of bankruptcy filings year-to-date for the first two months of 2015 is 124,052, compared to 140,542 for the first two months of 2014. The state with the most cumulative filings year-to-date is California with 12,974, followed by Illinois at 9,084. Florida was a close third at 8,961. In filings per capita for the first two months of 2015, Tennessee and Alabama were once again first and second among states with 5.17 and 4.83 filings for every thousand people, respectively.
While these states remained in the top two positions for most filings per capita, the February numbers represented slight declines from their January totals (5.28 for Tennessee and 5.24 for Alabama). However, the national average in bankruptcy filings per capita ticked slightly upward from January to February, from 2.28 up to 2.39. Georgia, which ranked third in filings per capita, also saw a month-over-month increase from 4.57 up to 4.66. Illinois, which ranked fourth, fueled the national increase in filings per capita with a leap from 3.89 in January to 4.22 in February. Mississippi, which ranked fifth, saw a spike in bankruptcy filings per capita from 3.33 to 3.69.Sixth-ranked Utah experienced a month-over-month jump in filings per capita from 3.28 up to 3.51.
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.
