ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

The latest bankruptcy filing data is being described as “a calm before the storm,” as businesses have been turned upside down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to data provided by Epiq Systems, the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) reported that total commercial Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings for the first quarter increased 14% year-over-year. The figure moved from 1,500 cases to 1,709 commercial Chapter 11 filings recorded through March 31.

Overall commercial filings rose 4% year-over-year during the first quarter, according to ABI, climbing from 9,481 total commercial filings to 9,817 cases.

However, officials noticed that total bankruptcy filings in Q1 actually declined year-over-year.

ABI reported that total bankruptcy filings decreased 5% to 177,198 from the 187,325 filings during the same period of 2019.

The latest data also showed consumer bankruptcy filings dropped 6% over the first three months of 2020 to 167,381 from the 177,844 consumer filings during the same stretch last year.

But ABI executive director Amy Quackenboss expects future bankruptcy data installments to show much different situations.

“The first quarter filings represent a calm before the storm of the financial distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Quackenboss said in a news release. “Consumers and businesses face growing financial challenges due to the pandemic, and bankruptcy provides a vital safe harbor from their mounting debts.

“We anticipate business filings to start rising this month and consumer filings to start to accelerate in early summer,” she continued.

Looking at just March information, total bankruptcy filings sunk 15% to 62,847 cases from the 73,522 total filings registered a year earlier.

Total commercial filings in March also decreased, softening 5% to 3,167 from the 3,317 business filings recorded in March of last year.

ABI determined the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for the first three months of 2020 increased to 2.29 (total filings per 1,000 per population) from the 2.21 filing rate of the first two months of the year.

States with the highest per capita filing rates (total filings per 1,000 population) during Q1 included:

1. Alabama (5.47)

2. Tennessee (5.05)

3. Mississippi (4.45)

4. Georgia (4.34)

5. Arkansas (3.56)

ABI has partnered with Epiq Systems, a leading provider of managed technology for the global legal profession, in order to provide the most current bankruptcy filing data for analysts, researchers and members of the news media.