Record number of businesses filed for bankruptcy this summer. That could be just the beginning – 69News WFMZ-TV

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - It's a record summer for bankruptcies.

The number of bankruptcies is up over 200 percent from July and August of last year and expected to get worse as the economy continues to stall.

"We're going to see a lot more bankruptcies because many, many businesses are trying to hold on as much as they could," saidKamran Afshar, an economist with DeSales University.

"Still, we are not going to see many of these jobs come back because like every recession businesses learn how to do the same job more efficiently."

Currently, most of these bankruptcies are from larger companies like Stein Mart, Chuck E. Cheese, and Brooks Brothers to name a few.

But small business might not be that far behind them.

Charles Laputka is a bankruptcy lawyer in Allentown. Although locally, he says filings have been down he expects them to go up as government aid stops.

"And I expect bankruptcies to pick up again probably January, February, March," Laputka said.

And for many small businesses they might be too broke to file for bankruptcy.

"And they have to put down-in the Lehigh Valley-anywhere between $10-$25,000 upfront just to begin the case. And then it's billed hourly after that,"Laputka said.

"Generally, always, the rate of business failure is higher than bankruptcy. Now significantly more so,"Afshar said.

However for those who, unfortunately, will have to file it might not be the black stain it once was.

"In this type of situation I believe there's going to be a lot of wiggle room in bankruptcy, will not be as negative as it has been in the past. You know COVID will excuse a lot of sins,"Laputka said.

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Record number of businesses filed for bankruptcy this summer. That could be just the beginning - 69News WFMZ-TV