Epiq, a global technology-enabled services firm, released its November 2021 bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER bankruptcy information services business. Overall, November new filings were down with 29,325 across all chapters, down 5.6 percent from October 2021 which had 31,053 new filings. Total commercial filings across all chapters were 1,563, down 10.3 percent over October 2021, which had 1,743 new filings.

Chapter 11 commercial filings, including Sub Chapter V, had 195 new filings in November, down 29.1 percent over the prior month that had 275 new filings. Of these, 73 were Sub Chapter V, down from 85 the prior month.

For 2021 through November, the total number of new bankruptcy filings across all chapters was 373,474, down 24.7 percent over the same period last year, which had 496,044. This downward trend continues as the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to affect bankruptcy activity.

Chapter 7 individual bankruptcies had 17,378 new filings in November, down 6.6 percent over October 2021, which had 18,608 new filings. Chapter 13 individual bankruptcies had 10,336 new filings, down 2.9 percent over the prior month that had 10,642. This is the first month in the last 6 consecutive months where new Chapter 13 filings decreased. 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.

“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.