Total commercial chapter 11 bankruptcies for the month of June 2017 were 581, representing a 16 percent increase from the 502 commercial chapter 11 filings in June 2016, according to data provided to the American Bankruptcy Institute by Epiq Systems, Inc. Total commercial and consumer bankruptcies in June 2017 each registered 1 percent increases over the previous year. Total filings in June 2017 increased to 66,757 from the 66,338 total filings in June 2016. Total commercial bankruptcies increased to 3,385 filings in June 2017 from the 3,338 registered in June 2016, while noncommercial bankruptcies for June 2017 increased to 63,372 from the 63,000 filings in June 2016.

"The economic challenges weighing on the balance sheets of struggling consumers and companies, especially retail businesses, have them seeking the financial shelter of bankruptcy,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “Total bankruptcies for 2017 will likely approach 800,000, a slight increase over last year.”

Total bankruptcy filings during the first six months of the year (Jan. 1-June 30) increased 0.21 percent to 399,454 over the 398,627 total filings during the same period in 2016. Total commercial filings also increased slightly, rising 1 percent to 19,765 during the first six months of 2017 from the 19,567 total commercial filings during the same period a year ago. Consumer bankruptcies during the first half of 2017 also registered a slight increase as the 379,689 represented a 0.17 percent increase over the 379,060 consumer filings during the first six months of 2016. However, the 3,013 total commercial chapter 11s for the first half of 2017 represented a 7 percent drop from the commercial chapter 11 filing total of 3,225 for the first half of 2016.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for the first six calendar months of 2017 (Jan. 1-June 30) increased to 2.57 (total filings per 1,000 per population) over the 2.54 filing rate of the first five months. The average total filings per day in June 2017 were 3,034, a 1 percent increase from the 3,015 total daily filings in June 2016. States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) through the first six months of 2017 were:

1. Alabama (5.81)
2. Tennessee (5.69)
3. Georgia (4.73)
4. Mississippi (4.16)
5. Utah (4.14)