NEW YORK -

Bankruptcy filings are continuing to trend higher as segments of the financial world continue to move toward what experts might think of as normal.

Epiq recently released its April bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER bankruptcy information services business and discovered total new filings exceeded 40,000 for the second straight month.

Across all chapters, Epiq said there were 40,886 cases filed in April.

Analysts indicated the new filings were driven by 38,813 new non-commercial or individual filings, down from March’s 41,156 cases, but up 16% over the average in the prior seven-month period.

“Bankruptcy filings in April extended the spike we saw in March,” said Chris Kruse, senior vice president of Epiq AACER. “This is an additional indicator that new non-commercial bankruptcy filings may be returning to pre-pandemic levels.

“We have seen some seasonality over past years in Q2 filings, but we are in unchartered territory with the pandemic and therefore remain cautious,” Kruse continued in a news release.

Epiq noted that there were 147,868 total new bankruptcy filings across all chapters for the first four months of the year, down from 215,704 for the same period in 2020.

The two largest categories in April were in non-commercial filings, with 29,777 new Chapter 7 cases and 8,957 new Chapter 13 cases.

Commercial Chapter 11 filings dropped 26% versus March with 287 new filings in April.

Epiq went on to mention commercial filings across all chapters declined 10% versus March’s 2,293 cases with a total of 2,073 new filings.

“The continued decline in commercial filings demonstrates the ability for companies to access needed capital as an alternative to seeking bankruptcy,” said Deirdre O’Connor, senior managing director of corporate restructuring at Epiq.