ALEXANDRIA, Va., and NEW YORK -

It’s been 40 years since bankruptcy filings have been at the pace experts from Epiq and the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) are seeing in 2021.

Last week, Epiq released its November bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER bankruptcy information services business. Overall, the firm said November new filings were down with 29,325 across all chapters, dropping 5.6% from October, which had 31,053 new filings.

Epiq indicated total commercial filings across all chapters came in at 1,563, sliding 10.3% versus October, which had 1,743 new filings.

For the year through November, Epiq tallied the total number of new bankruptcy filings across all chapters to find 373,474 cases. That’s down 24.7% compared to the same period last year, which had 496,044.

“This downward trend continues as the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to affect bankruptcy activity,” Epiq said in a news release.

Epiq noted that Chapter 7 individual bankruptcies represented 17,378 new filings in November, down 6.6% compared to October, which had 18,608 new filings.

Chapter 13 individual bankruptcies marked 10,336 new filings, dipping 2.9% versus the prior month that had 10,642.

“This is the first month in the last six consecutive months where new Chapter 13 filings decreased,” Epiq said. “However, as November has only 30 calendar days along with the shortened U.S. Thanksgiving holiday week, it slightly impacts month-over-month new filing comparison metrics.

Epiq went on to mention Chapter 11 commercial filings, including Sub Chapter V, had 195 new filings in November, down 29.1% versus the prior month that had 275 new filings. Of these cases, 73 were Sub Chapter V, down from 85 the prior month.

“November new bankruptcy filing activity continued the downward trend since the COVID-19 global pandemic manifested in the U.S. in March 2020. While it was a shorter month, the fact remains that new filing levels are considerably less than the pre-COVID-19 levels,” said Chris Kruse, senior vice president of Epiq Bankruptcy Technology.

ABI pointed out that the 29,325 total bankruptcies in November marked a 15% drop from the 34,486 filings in November of last year. Similarly, ABI said consumer bankruptcies decreased 14% year-over-year in November, decreasing from 32,141 consumer filings to 27,760 filings.

“Bankruptcies are on pace this year to record their lowest annual total since the mid-1980s due to a number of factors, including pandemic relief programs, lender forbearances and low interest rates,” ABI executive director Amy Quackenboss said in another news release.

“As the calendar turns to 2022, the expiration of relief programs, rising inflation and supply chain challenges have created economic headwinds for consumers and businesses. Bankruptcy provides struggling families and companies with an established course for navigating financial difficulty,” Quackenboss continued.

ABI shared other Epiq information that highlighted the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) was 1.31 for the first 11 calendar months of 2021, a slight decrease from the 1.33 rate registered during the first 10 months of the year.

The average daily filing total in November was 1,543, a 15% decrease from the 1,815 total daily filings registered in November 2020.

States with the highest per capita filing rates (total filings per 1,000 population) through the first 11 months of 2021 included:

1. Alabama (3.14)

2. Nevada (2.62)

3. Tennessee (2.43)

4. Indiana (2.22)

5. Georgia (2.12)