Bankruptcies in April 2022 reached a total of 294 filings, an increase of 31 filings or 9.5% when compared to April 2021. Bankruptcy filings in the period from January to April 2022 showed a difference of 126 or 9.1% fewer fillings than those reported in the same period for 2021. Additionally,120 or 29.0% fewer filings were reported in April 2022 than those reported strictly for March 2022.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings, in accordance with the United States Courts’ Bankruptcy Code, is a type of bankruptcy available to individuals with low income or below the corresponding “median income” or who succeed in passing what is known as a means test. For this Chapter, a total of 115 filings were reported for April 2022, which translate to a 18.4% decrease in comparison to filings reported in April 2021 and an even greater decrease of 27.7% when compared to filings reported for March 2022.
No chapter 11 or 12 bankruptcies were filed during April 2022.
Finally, when considering Chapter 13 bankruptcies, it is easily noticeable how said figures significantly influence the overall reported numbers for filed bankruptcies. Bankruptcy under this chapter is available to debtors with unsecured debt of less than $394,725; and whose insured debts do not exceed $ 1,184,200 (Amounts are adjusted systematically to reflect changes in inflation). April 2022 was not the exception, being the chapter under which most bankruptcies were filed, with a total of 179 cases. This shows a 72 or 28.7% decrease in filings compared to March 2022. When compared to April 2021, bankruptcy files for Chapter 13 decreased only by 1 case or 0.56%.
Overall bankruptcies in April 2022 have decreased in comparison to those filed during March 2022 and during April 2021. This is consistent with a decreasing trend in bankruptcy filings viewed since the begging of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
