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BANKRUPTCIES
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Epiq, an Atlanta-based provider of
intelligence to the legal services industry, has
released its February 2022 bankruptcy filing
statistics from its new Bankruptcy Analytics
platform which found that filings increased by
3.2% last month representing 26,985 filings of
all types, up from the 26,194 seen in January,
but down from the 27,957 seen in December.
Comparing data year over year from February
2021 to February 2022, open bankruptcy cases
fell by 1.1%, declining from 723,725 open cases
in 2021 to 714,866 cases in 2022.
Breaking the data down, Chapter 13
individual bankruptcies remained essentially flat
in February. February saw 10,306 new filings—
this number is now down just a bit from
January when 10,345 new filings were recorded.
In February 2022, the U.S. Southeast region
continued to lead new Chapter 13 filings with
Georgia (1,040), Alabama (791), Tennessee
(712), and Florida (701) leading the way as the
largest states with filing activity.
Chapter 7 individual bankruptcies were
up in February with 15,196 new filings over
14,295 seen in January, a 1.1% increase. So far
in 2022, Chapter 7 individual bankruptcy filings
are down 29.9% with 29,491 over the first two
months in 2021, which had 42,079 new filings.
Chapter 11 commercial bankruptcies filings
decreased by 10.8% to 203 filings, down from
the 225 seen in January. Of these, 93 were Sub
Chapter V, up 16.5% from 80 the prior month.
ese small business filings are a key metric to
watch as we exit the pandemic and government
aid ends. Total commercial filings across all
chapters were 1,420, down 5.4% over January
2022, which had 1,501 new filings.
"Although February 2022 new bankruptcy
filings continue to be well below pre-pandemic
levels, chapter 7s are up and chapter 13
individual filings remained flat month over
month, even with February having three less
days than January," said Chris Kruse, SVP
of Epiq Bankruptcy Technology. "We are
watching these trends closely."
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