Fewer of the nation’s consumers resorted to bankruptcy last month, though activity was heightened compared to the first month of 2016.
Collective commercial and noncommercial new cases filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Courts during the first month of the year totaled 55,212.
Volume slipped from an upwardly revised 56,414 filings in December 2016 but increased from an upwardly revised 52,560 in January 2016.
Those statistics were reported Friday by the 12,000-member American Bankruptcy Institute.
“While bankruptcies plunged last year to their lowest levels since the implementation of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, filings are beginning to climb,” ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano said in the report. “As interest rates increase and the cost of borrowing rises, more debt-burdened consumers and businesses may seek the financial shelter of bankruptcy.”
January 2017 filings put the per-capita rate at 2.13 total filings per thousand in U.S. population.
Alabama had the highest per-capita rate last month: 5.43. Tennessee’s 5.08 followed, then Georgia’s 4.30, Arkansas’ 3.44 and Illinois’ 3.41.
Non-commercial bankruptcy filings accounted for 52,421 of
the latest U.S. monthly volume.
Consumer activity eased compared to the downwardly revised 53,469 in December 2016. But filings worsened versus the upwardly revised 49,733 in January 2016.
