NH bankruptcies fall again in January

25% reduction in filings from 2019

New Hampshire kicked off 2020 with a sharp decline in bankruptcies.

Some 121 households and businesses filed for bankruptcy protection January. While that’s 17 more than in December it’s 39 fewer than the 160 who filed in January 2019. That’s nearly a 25% reduction. It’s also less than a third of the 381 who filed in the first month of 2010, in the heart of the great recession.

It’s also quite a bit less than the average number of monthly filings in 2019, which was 148. Last year’s average was two more than in 2018, and four under 2017.

Indeed, if you don’t count the statistical anomaly of 2005-2006 – when the bankruptcy laws changed making it much harder to file – the January’s filing total was the lowest of any January in three decades. You would have to go back to January 1989, when only 82 filed.

There were three businesses-related filings. Two were individual filings that involved-business related debt, the same as last month. In January, one business filed directly:

• Surfside Taxi of Hampton LLC, Suncook, filed Jan. 7, Chapter 7/ Assets and Liabilities: Less than $50,000.