When I started practicing law, getting financial reporting was pretty simple: You just grabbed the firm’s copy of the Wall Street Journal. Today, we’re bombarded from all sides by conflicting information. It’s going to be a soft landing. No, it’s going to be a bad recession. Or maybe a bank crisis. Not to mention a commercial real estate loan debacle. While it is easier to pull up data online, the sheer volume of information makes drawing conclusions a lot harder, in my opinion. My apologies for one more data point. But it’s a simple one and good news. I see the number of Oklahoma bankruptcy case filings in pretty much real time. Those numbers are at record lows, and while they aren’t falling at the same rate as last year they have leveled off.

Not kidding about how low the record is. In 2012, on the heels of the Great Recession, there were around 12,000 bankruptcy filings in Oklahoma, which itself was down significantly from 2010. In 2020, a shade under 7,200 cases were filed statewide. That seemed like a huge drop. But it was just the beginning. In 2022 there were fewer than 5,000 bankruptcy cases filed in Oklahoma. While filings are up a little this year, numbers through the end of May tell me that total filings will be about 5,500 for 2023.

One more point, which isn’t really data, but it’s true. I’ve been going to the Tulsa County foreclosure docket off and on pretty much my whole career. In bad times there would be a full courtroom and more cases than you cared to count. In normal times there would be at least 20 or 30. Now, a big confirmation docket has 10 cases – and sometimes only three or four.

Borrowers who have to file bankruptcy or who let their property get into foreclosure are those with the most credit problems – the canary in the coal mine. My take from that corner of the world – at least in Oklahoma – is that the canary is singing his little head off. So, it is safe for the rest of us to keep working away. Which, at the end of the day, is how we keep our economy strong.

This article appeared in the June 15, 2023, issue of The Journal Record. It is reproduced with permission from the publisher. © The Journal Record Publishing Co.