The number of consumers who resorted to bankruptcy fell for the second month in a row. But filings remained elevated versus a year ago.
Total U.S. bankruptcies filed, including commercial and non-commercial filings,
worked out to 61,366 during July, dropping from an upwardly revised 66,789 the prior month.
Despite the month-over-month improvement, however, the number of new bankruptcy cases was slightly elevated from an upwardly revised 61,371 a year prior.
The American Bankruptcy Institute reported the data Thursday. The group’s executive director,
Samuel J. Gerdano, noted in the report, “High filing costs continue to steer distressed households and businesses away from the financial relief of bankruptcy.”
There were 2.54 total bankruptcy filings per thousand in U.S. population last month, ABI reported.
In Alabama, July’s per-capita rate was 5.76 — the highest of any state. Next was Tennessee’s 5.62 percent, then Georgia’s 4.74 percent, Mississippi’s 4.12 percent and Utah’s 4.08 percent.
Non-commercial bankruptcies accounted for 58,522 of the last month’s overall filings. Consumer activity tumbled from 63,372 in June. But the total was up from 58,391 the same month in 2016.
During the first-seven months of this year, there were 438,210 non-commercial bankruptcies filed.
