ALEXANDRIA, Va., and NEW YORK -

Not since June 2006 — when Disney first released “Cars” in movie theaters — have there been bankruptcy trends like what Epiq and the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) are now explaining.

Epiq recently released its June 2021 bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER bankruptcy information services business and reported the lowest June filings since 2006 for five categories, including:

• All bankruptcy filings

• Commercial Chapter 7

• Non-commercial Chapter 7

• Commercial Chapter 13

• Non-commercial Chapter 13

The global, technology-enabled services provider to the legal industry and corporations said new filings in June were flat with 34,248 cases across all chapters, a 1% drop from the May count of 34,767.

Epiq also noted non-commercial consumer filings across all chapters totaled 32,267, down 2% from 32,976 in May.

The company went on to point out in a news release that commercial filings across all chapters were up 11% in June with a total of 1,981 new filings, from 1,791 in May.

“New commercial filings increased from May to June, however, commercial filings overall remain down more than 30% year-over-year,” said Brad Tuttle, managing director of Epiq Corporate Restructuring.

Epiq also indicated there were 216,910 total new bankruptcy filings across all chapters for the first half of 2021, down 27% from 298,121 in the same period in 2020.

“Many financially distressed businesses and households have been able to weather the economic effects of the pandemic to this point through stabilization efforts by the federal government, lender forbearance and continued low interest rates,” ABI executive director Amy Quackenboss said in a separate news release.

“As consumers and companies navigate the post-pandemic economy amid receding relief programs, global supply challenges and potential inflation risks, bankruptcy provides a lifeline to families and businesses who may be struggling financially,” Quackenboss continued.

ABI mentioned other Epiq data that showed the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for the first six months of the year decreased slightly to 1.40 (total filings per 1,000 per population) from 1.41 for the first five months.

Officials said the average total filings per day in June came in at 1,558, a 19% decrease from the 1,928 total daily filings in June of last year.

States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) through the first six months of 2021 included:

1. Alabama (3.15)

2. Nevada (2.91)

3. Tennessee (2.51)

4. Indiana (2.31)

5. Delaware (2.23)