Bankruptcies Continue Downward Trend From Peak in March ’21

The number of new bankruptcies were mixed in September with 30,907 new filings, down 4% from the 32,263 filings in August.  

According to a press release from Epiq, a tech-enabled provider of intelligence to the legal services industry and corporations, the data comes from the September 2021 bankruptcy filing statistics from its internal AACER bankruptcy information services business. 

According to the release, total individual Chapter 13 filings were up 6% from August with a total of 9,930 new cases. On the other hand, individual Chapter 7 filings were down 9% over August with a total of 19,230 cases while commercial Chapter 11 filings were also down 6% with 247 cases. 

Individual Chapter 7 new filings have decreased over the last few months from its recent peak in March 2021. Individual Chapter 13 filings have decreased month-over-month since May. 

As a whole, the total number of open bankruptcy cases, which includes closed cases, continues to decline—September ended the month with 773,652 cases, down by 11% since the beginning of the year. 

While numbers have been trending downward, this trend could be bucked by the end of the eviction moratorium. 

“The bankruptcy new filings volume and chapter mix trends will likely change over the coming months with the Federal and State programs like the eviction moratorium expiring on September 30, 2021,” said Todd Madsen, senior director of Epiq Bankruptcy Analytics. “However, numerous states like California have rent reimbursement programs, with funds in place that will continue to ward off new bankruptcy filings as moratoriums expire.”