Epiq released its April 2021 bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER bankruptcy information services business. Total April new filings exceeded the forty thousand threshold for the second straight month with 40,886 across all chapters. The new filings were driven by 38,813 new non-commercial or individual filings, down from March’s 41,156, but up 16% over the average in the prior 7-month period.

“Bankruptcy filings in April extended the spike we saw in March,” said Chris Kruse, senior vice president of Epiq AACER. “This is an additional indicator that new non-commercial bankruptcy filings may be returning to pre-pandemic levels. We have seen some seasonality over past years in Q2 filings, but we are in unchartered territory with the pandemic and therefore remain cautious.”

There were 147,868 total new bankruptcy filings across all chapters for the first four months of 2021, down from 215,704 for the same period in 2020. The two largest categories in April were in non-commercial filings, with 29,777 new Chapter 7 cases and 8,957 new Chapter 13 cases. Commercial Chapter 11 filings were down 26% over March with 287 new filings in April.

Commercial filings across all chapters were down 10% over March’s 2,293, with a total of 2,073 new filings. “The continued decline in commercial filings demonstrates the ability for companies to access needed capital as an alternative to seeking bankruptcy,” said Deirdre O’Connor, senior managing director of corporate restructuring at Epiq.