Americans continued seeking bankruptcy relief at a faster pace as more than 120,000 petitions were filed in May. Filings last month represent a 3 percent increase over April and 42 percent more than the same month in 2008, according to data compiled by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records.
Commercial insolvencies continue increasing at a rate higher than for bankruptcies generally. May commercial filings were 47 percent more than the same month in 2008 and 129 percent higher than May 2007, says the report from AACER, a service of Jupiter ESources LLC in Oklahoma City.
The story is much the same for companies attempting to reorganize or liquidate in Chapter 11. So far this year, there were almost 6,600 Chapter 11 filings. Annualized, Chapter 11 petitions so far this year add up to almost 16,000, or a 57 percent increase over the total for 2008.
Commercial bankruptcies would be higher still, according to Greg Barrow, founder and managing director of General Capital Partners, were it not for ``banks electing to work with their borrowers to leave existing lending arrangements in place in order to maximize recovery.''
The most bankruptcy filings per capita were in Nevada, followed by Tennessee and Georgia. Filings are increasing most in Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
