NH bankruptcies climb again in February

While still at historically low levels, 52 filings for month is 17% more than January

February is a short month, so you’d expect the number of bankruptcy filings in New Hampshire to go down. They went up.

Some 52 individuals and businesses filed in February, nine more than the 43 that filed in both January and the previous February – a 17 percent increase.

Still, the number of filings this January and February each were two above record lows for those months, and bankruptcies are still just about a tenth of the 506 that filed for protection in February 2010.

In fact, we haven’t seen fewer filings in February since the 1980s – except for last year, of course.

But February is now the third consecutive month with an increase in bankruptcy filings over the previous year. The question is, are we at the start of a continued increase in the number of lost personal and business fortunes or have we settled in?

Meanwhile, there were four filings with business-related debt in February, compared to three in January. Only one filed directly, compared to two the previous month, and it was a reorganization under Chapter 11.

The business was Beato Auto Sales Inc. of Derry, which filed Feb. 13 under Chapter 11. It reported assets of $1,885,012 and liabilities of $4,700,173.