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March bankruptcy filings swell

Total U.S. bankruptcy filings were on a sharp incline last month, filings for March representing a 39 percent increase from February. Similarly, total noncommercial and commercial filings were up. Commercial chapter 11 filings, however, decreased nine percent.

The total 43,425 bankruptcy filings for March represented a 39 percent increase over the 31,221 filings during the previous month of February, according to data provided by Epiq.

Similarly, the 41,150 total noncommercial filings for March represented a 41 percent increase from the February 2021 noncommercial filing total of 29,256. The 2,275 total commercial filings in March represented a 16 percent increase from the 1,965 total commercial filings during the previous month. Commercial chapter 11 filings decreased 9 percent in March to 384 from the 420 commercial chapter 11 filings in February.

For the first calendar quarter of 2021 (Jan. 1-March 31), the 106,958 total bankruptcy filings represented a 40 percent decrease from the 177,246 total filings during the same period last year at the start of the pandemic (filings started showing their largest decreases due to the pandemic in the second calendar quarter of 2020).

Consumer filings also decreased 40 percent to 100,669 filings in the first quarter of 2021 from the 167,376 consumer filings during the same period in 2020. Total overall commercial bankruptcies decreased 36 percent in the first quarter of 2021, as the 6,289 filings were down from the 9,870 commercial filings during the first quarter of 2020.

Total commercial chapter 11 filings dipped 25 percent to 1,283 during the first calendar quarter of 2021 from the 1,709 total commercial chapter 11s during the same period in 2020.