Bankruptcy filings still low in July

So far, New Hampshire averages 52 filings a month

More than halfway through the year, and bankruptcies are still at record lows.   They haven’t fallen any lower in the last few months, but they haven’t increased much either.

Some 53 households filed in July, one more than in June, two more than May and one less than filed in July of last year.  July’s filings were the lowest it has been since 1987, (when there was 46 in July).

For the second month since we’ve been tracking this, not only have no businesses filed in either June or July, but not one household filed with business-related debt.

We are still on track for a record-low year.  Year to date, we are averaging 52 a month.  Last year, the average was 61.

To put it in perspective, some 494 were filed in July of 2009 in the midst of the last recession — more than nine times as many.  The average monthly filing that year was 427.

Filings have now stayed in the double digits for 28 straight months.  For 32 years before that, they have been in the triple digits.

Bankruptcy attorneys attribute the lack of filings to lingering effects of massive government aid during the pandemic, and programs and court backlogs that have also brought foreclosures and evictions to a near standstill, though they are starting to creep up a bit.