The number of new bankruptcies was mixed in September with 30,907 new filings, down 4% from 32,263 filings in August.
According to a Press release of Epiq, a technology intelligence provider for the legal services industry and businesses, the data comes from the September 2021 bankruptcy statistics of its AACER Bankruptcy Information Services Business.
According to the statement, the total of individual Chapter 13 filings increased 6% from August with a total of 9,930 new cases. On the other hand, individual Chapter 7 filings were down 9% from August with a total of 19,230 cases, while Chapter 11 commercial filings were also down 6% with 247 cases.
New individual Chapter 7 filings have declined in recent months from its recent peak in March 2021. Individual Chapter 13 filings have declined month over month since May.
Overall, the total number of open bankruptcy cases, which includes closed cases, continues to decline: September ended the month with 773,652 cases, down 11% year-to-date.
Although the numbers tend to go down, this trend could be reversed by the end of the moratorium on evictions.
“The volume of new bankruptcy filings and chapter composition trends will likely change over the next few months with federal and state programs like the moratorium on evictions expiring September 30, 2021,” said Todd Madsen, senior director of Epiq Bankruptcy Analytics. “However, many states like California have rental repayment programs, with funds in place that will continue to prevent new bankruptcy filings after the moratoriums expire.”
