Bankruptcy Filings Declined 10 Percent in 2015

Total bankruptcy filings in the U.S. reached 819,240 for calendar year 2015, a 10 percent decrease from the 910,397 total filings during the same period a year ago, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. and a news release from the American Bankruptcy Institute.
The 789,222 total noncommercial filings during calendar year 2015 also represented a 10 percent drop from the noncommercial filing total of 875,648 during calendar year 2014, according to the news release.
“Total commercial filings during calendar year 2015 were 30,018, a 14 percent drop from the 34,749 filings during the same period in 2014. Conversely, commercial chapter 11s registered their first year-over-year percentage increase since 2009 as the 5,309 filings during calendar year 2015 represented a 2 percent increase over the 5,188 commercial chapter 11s filed the previous year,” according to the release.
“While commercial chapter 11 filings increased slightly last year, total filings fell for the sixth consecutive year and bankruptcies decreased to their lowest number recorded since 2006,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano in the news release. “However, as interest rates increase the cost of borrowing, more debt-burdened consumers and businesses may turn to the financial fresh start of the Bankruptcy Code in 2016.”
There were 53,806 total bankruptcy filings in December 2015, which represents a 15 percent decrease when compared to the 63,202 filings in December 2014, according to the news release.
“The 51,171 total noncommercial filings for December represented a 16 percent drop from the December 2014 noncommercial filing total of 60,700. Conversely, total commercial filings for December 2015 were 2,635, representing a 5 percent increase from the 2,502 filings during the same period in 2014,” it states.
There was an average of 1,736 total filings per day in December 2015, which compared to 2,039 total daily filings in December 2014 is a 15 percent decrease.
States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) through 2015 were: Tennessee (5.73); Alabama (5.36); Georgia (5.02); Illinois (4.34) and Utah (4.28).