ABI: July Bankruptcies Drop 12 Percent Year-Over-Year

August 06, 2012

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute highlighted that July's total bankruptcy filings in the United States decreased 12 percent compared to the previous year, according to data provided by Epiq Systems.

Officials tabulated that July's bankruptcy filings totaled 97,073, down from the 110,173 filings registered in July of last year. Total commercial filings for July were 4,513, representing a 22-percent decrease from the 5,800 filings during the same month a year ago.

ABI noted the 92,560 total noncommercial filings for July represented an 11-percent drop from last July's noncommercial filing total of 104,373.

"The July filings continue to reflect the effects of sustained low interest rates and weak consumer spending," ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano stated.

"We are still on pace for perhaps the lowest total new bankruptcies since before the financial crisis in 2008," Gerdano projected.

Gerdano went on to mention 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.

ABI calculated 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 last July's total of 596, and a 10-percent increase above the June figure of 543.

Officials also pointed out the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy-filing rate for the first seven calendar months of 2012 decreased to 4.04 (total filings per 1,000 per population) from the 4.08 rate for the first six months of the year.

And the average total filings per day in July was 3,131, a 12 percent decrease from the 3,554 total daily filings in July of last year.

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)

ABI reiterated that it partnered with Epiq Systems, a provider of managed technology for the global legal profession, in order to provide the most current bankruptcy filing data for analysts, researchers and members of the news media.

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