Bankruptcies in isles jump 8.3 percent

Hawaii bankruptcies jumped 8.3 percent in January after finishing 2017 down for the seventh year in a row.

The 104 filings last month were the most in any January since 117 were filed in 2015, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii.

Chapter 7 liquidation — the most common type of bankruptcy — remained the same as the year-earlier period at 64 cases.

Chapter 13 filings, which allow individuals with regular sources of income to set up plans to make installment payments to creditors over three to five years, increased 25 percent to 40 from 32.

There were no Chapter 11 filings last month or in January 2017. Chapter 11 filings typically involve businesses.

Across the state, the number of cases filed fell in three of the four major counties. Hawaii County cases slipped to five from 11, Maui County filings declined to 15 from 17 and Kauai County filings dipped to three from five. However, Hono­lulu County filings rose to 81 from 63.

The 1,352 cases filed for all of 2017 were 30 less than in 2016 to keep the annual downward trend alive. But that trend may be slowly shifting as six months in 2017 had more filings than the year-earlier period and the other six months had fewer filings than a year earlier.