ALEXANDRIA, Va., and NEW YORK -

Just like the pandemic is slowing defaults and vehicle repossessions, COVID-19 is keeping bankruptcy courts quieter than usual, too.

Epiq released its August bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER bankruptcy information services business this week.

Overall, the global technology-enabled services provider to the legal services industry and corporations said August was flat with 32,225 new filings across all chapters, down slightly from July, which had 32,391 cases.

According to a news release from Epiq, total commercial filings across all chapters in August rose 1% above the July figure of 1,724 new cases.

Looking at just consumers, there were 30,533 filings in August, representing a slight decrease — 0.49% to be exact — from July’s consumer total of 30,682.

Analysts indicated the overall bankruptcy market volume has dropped more than 20% since the beginning of the pandemic. They added the number of open cases in the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Courts dropped to 786,059 in August, down from 989,214 in mid-April 2020.

“The programs put in place by the government to bolster personal cash flow and keep people in their homes during the pandemic has had a positive impact on businesses and consumers who would typically file for bankruptcy,” said Todd Madsen, senior director of Epiq Bankruptcy Analytics.

“Conversely, the business of bankruptcy that includes lawyers, judges, trustees and administrative agents is suffering from a historic slow period,” Madsen continued in the news release. “These businesses are not immune from pandemic market dynamics.”

So far this year, Epiq determined there have been 291,863 new cases filed across all chapters, down from the same period last year that had 396,113 new filings. That represents a 26.3% decline.

American Bankruptcy Institute executive director Amy Quackenboss shared her assessment of the latest Epiq data in a separate news release.

“Struggling families and businesses are seeing government stabilization programs expire, lender forbearance programs recede, and challenges to the supply chain wrought by the pandemic resurface,” Quackenboss said.

“Amid uncertain economic times, bankruptcy remains a dependable shield to help keep companies and consumers from being financially overwhelmed,” she continued.

ABI shared more of Epiq data that showed the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate in August was 1.36 (total filings per 1,000 population), a slight decrease from the filing rate of 1.38 during the first seven months of the year.

ABI also mentioned the average total filings per day in August were 1,466, a decrease of 22% from the 1,874 total daily filings in August of last year.

States with the highest per capita filing rates (total filings per 1,000 population) in August included:

1. Alabama (3.13)

2. Nevada (2.82)

3. Tennessee (2.47)

4. Indiana (2.30)

5. Kentucky (2.15)