Only 34,734 new bankruptcy filings in May marks a significant decline over the prior two months

NEW YORK – JUNE 2, 2021 – Epiq, a global technology-enabled services leader to the legal services industry and corporations, released its May 2021 bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER bankruptcy information services business. The new filings for May dropped to 34,734 across all chapters. This is a 15% drop from the April 2021 new filings count of 40,913. Non-commercial consumer filings across all chapters totaled 32,958, down 15% from 38,830 in April. Commercial filings across all chapters were also down in May with a total of 1,776 new filings, down 15% from 2,083 in April.

“Bankruptcy filings in May returned to similar levels during the COVID-19 global pandemic after a two-month spike in March and April,” said Chris Kruse, senior vice president of Epiq AACER. “This is not unexpected, as historically March and April new bankruptcy filings have spiked each year due to holiday over spending. However, the continued stimulus investments are positively impacting the consumer and holding down bankruptcy volumes.”

There were 182,629 total new bankruptcy filings across all chapters for the first five months of 2021, down 29% from 255,697 in the same period in 2020. Commercial Chapter 11 filings were down 14% over April with 246 new filings in May.  

“The continued decline in chapter 11 filings is anticipated given ample available market liquidity coupled with federal stimulus intervention,” said Deirdre O’Connor, senior managing director of corporate restructuring at Epiq.

About Epiq AACER
Epiq AACER is your partner for bankruptcy information and compliance. Our AACER bankruptcy information services platform is built with superior data, technology, and expertise to create insight and mitigate risk for businesses impacted by bankruptcies. We offer free bankruptcy statistics and monthly email updates for both commercial and non-commercial consumer bankruptcy filings for Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 cases. You may register for these free resources on our Bankruptcy Statistics and Trends page.

About Epiq
Epiq, a global technology-enabled services leader to the legal services industry and corporations, takes on large-scale, increasingly complex tasks for corporate counsel, law firms, and business professionals with efficiency, clarity, and confidence. Clients rely on Epiq to streamline the administration of business operations, class action and mass tort, court reporting, eDiscovery, regulatory, compliance, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. Epiq subject-matter experts and technologies create efficiency through expertise and deliver confidence to high-performing clients around the world. Learn more at https://www.epiqglobal.com.

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Rebekah Paul
Epiq
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rebekah.paul@epiqglobal.com