Bankruptcy Filings Are Down

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Total bankruptcy filings nationwide for July 2012, decreased 12 percent compared to the previous year, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc.  July bankruptcy filings totaled 97,073, down from the 110,173 filings registered in July 2011. Total commercial filings for July 2012 were 4,513, representing a 22 percent decrease from the 5,800 filings during the same period in 2011. The 92,560 total noncommercial filings for July represented an 11 percent drop from the July 2011 noncommercial filing total of 104,373.

A related discussion on reduced bankruptcy filings can be seen at an earlier submission to this site.  See Business Bankruptcy Filings Are Down Substantially.

According to Samuel J. Gerdano, the Executive Director for the American Bankruptcy Institute, “The July filings continue to reflect the effects of sustained low interest rates and weak consumer spending.” “We are still on pace for perhaps the lowest total new bankruptcies since before the financial crisis in 2008,” said Gerdano.

July bankruptcy filings also represented slight decreases from June as total filings were down 2 percent from June’s total of 99,086. Commercial filings decreased 3 percent in July from the June total of 4,645, and noncommercial filings decreased 2 percent from the June total of 94,441. Total commercial chapter 11 filings saw slight increases in July. Overall, the July commercial chapter 11 filing total of 599 represented a 1 percent increase from July 2011’s total of 596, and a 10 percent increase over the June 2012 total of 543.

States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) through the first seven months of 2012 were:

  1. Nevada (7.00)
  2. Tennessee (6.97)
  3. Georgia (6.46)
  4. Utah (6.06)
  5. Alabama (5.89)

Otherwise, in all the States, the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy-filing rate for the first seven calendar months of 2012 (Jan. 1-July 31) decreased to 4.04 (total filings per 1,000 per population) from the 4.08 rate for the first six months of the year.