by Calculated Risk on 10/28/2015 11:20:00 AM

From the US Court: Fiscal Year Bankruptcy Filings Continue Fall

Bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts for the fiscal year 2015—the 12-month period ending September 30, 2015—totaled 860,182, down 11 percent from the 963,739 bankruptcy filings in FY 2014, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. This is the lowest number of bankruptcy filings for any 12-month period since 2007, and the fifth consecutive fiscal year filings have fallen.

The number of filings for the fiscal year ending Sept 2015 were the lowest since 2007, and business filings were the lowest in decades.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the business and non-business bankruptcy filings by year since 1987.

The sharp decline in 2006 and 2007 was due to the so-called "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005". (a good example of Orwellian named legislation since this was more a "Lender Protection Act").

Other than 2007, this was the lowest level for filings since 1994. This is another indicator of an economy mostly recovered from the housing bust and financial crisis.