Despite several high-profile national retail failures, bankruptcy filings in New Hampshire fell to another historic low in July.
But attorneys predict that the continued decrease in bankruptcy filings is only the calm before the expected storm — unless that, too, is calmed by another massive federal infusion of aid, being debated by Congress.
Seventy-two New Hampshire individuals filed for protection in July, nine fewer then June and the lowest number so far this year.
It was the fourth consecutive month with fewer than 100 filings, something that hasn’t been seen since the late 1980s, save for three months following October 2005, after the bankruptcy law was changed to make it harder to file.
The number of filings in July were 53% less than the number reported in July 2019 and a far cry from the 473 filed in July 2010, at the height of the last recession. It’s the lowest number reported in any July since 1988.
The decrease brought the monthly average number of filings so far this year to 102, nearly 31% below last year’s monthly average of 148.
But nationally, large-scale retail bankruptcies continue to be rolling in. Just on Sunday, Lord & Taylor and Tailored Brands Inc. — owner of Men’s Wearhouse, JoS. A. Bank, among other chains — filed
for protection. But on the whole, bankruptcy filings have fallen
nationally, though not by as much as in the Granite State, where no
businesses directly filed for bankruptcy in July, although three
individuals filed with business-related debt.
Peter
Tamposi, a bankruptcy attorney in Nashua, offered three explanations
for the trend in an email to NH Business Review several weeks ago:
“(1)
The [Paycheck Protection Program] and other SBA loans have buoyed
companies and kept them alive to get past the downturn in business. Many
of those funds have run out and if business has not resumed, we’ll see a
wave of failures in the fall; “(2) Personal filings have been postponed
by unemployment benefits, which have allowed many individuals to keep
their heads above water.
When
that ultimately runs out, we’ll see a wave of individual filings; “(3)
Lenders and landlords have been willing to defer payments and, in some
cases, are blocked by executive order and court closures from exercising
their rights. Their patience will expire and courts will reopen,
allowing creditors to begin collections and foreclosures and letting
landlords begin evicting.
“I do not see a rosy future for many folks.” — BOB SANDERS
