The number of new bankruptcy filings took a turn for the worse in March — climbing to the highest level in 10 months.
Businesses and individuals made 81,622 new filings at all U.S. Bankruptcy Courts during March,
soaring from 65,022 the previous month.
It was the single-biggest month for new bankruptcy filings since
May 2014, when 85,664 filings were made.
But activity was slower relative to the
91,283 new bankruptcies in March 2014, according to the data reported by the American Bankruptcy Institute.
For the first quarter of the year,
2.65 bankruptcies were filed per 1,000 in U.S. population.
The rate jumped to 5.52 per thousand in population for
the state of Tennessee, giving it the worst standing. Alabama’s 5.14-per-thousand rate was second highest, then Georgia’s 4.77-, Illinois’ 4.66- and Utah’s 4.07-per-thousand rate.
Non-commercial flings made up 78,973 of last month’s total U.S. bankruptcy filings, 26 percent more than the previous month but 10 percent fewer than in March 2014.
So far in 2015, consumer filings total 198,313.
