Despite an upward spike in businesses seeking refuge in bankruptcy court, the total number of bankruptcy petitions actually fell for a seventh straight year in South Central Texas in 2016, the San Antonio Express-News reported today. Overall, there were 3,015 consumer and business bankruptcy filings in the San Antonio division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas last year — a 3.6 percent decline from the 3,127 filings recorded in 2015. It’s also the lowest number of petitions recorded since 2006. Some 125 companies or partnerships filed for bankruptcy last year in the San Antonio division, an increase of about a third from the 93 that filed in 2015. The rise in business bankruptcies locally was almost in lock-step with what occurred nationally. The American Bankruptcy Institute, citing data from Epiq Systems Inc., reported commercial bankruptcy filings rose 26 percent last year in the U.S. A lot of the increase came from three sectors — retail, real estate and energy, said John D. Penn, a partner in the Dallas office of the Perkins Coie law firm. “Zero percent interest hides a multitude of sins,” Penn said. “Once interest rates start going up, a number of borrowers will have their cash flows squeezed and (they’ll) be in more challenging situations.”
