ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Continuing a positive trend of fewer
consumers walking away from debt, the American Bankruptcy Institute highlighted
that total filings in the United States during August decreased 15 percent
compared to the previous year.

According to data provided by Epiq Systems, August
bankruptcy filings totaled 88,902, down from the 104,471 filings registered in
August of last year

Total commercial filings for August were 3,789, representing
a 24-percent decrease from the 4,973 filings during the same period a year ago.
Commercial Chapter 11 filings totaled 590 in August, a 10-percent decline from
the 652 filed last August.

The 85,113 total noncommercial filings for August
represented a 15-percent drop from last August's noncommercial filing total of
99,498.

"The deep and sustained drop in bankruptcies reflects
lowered consumer borrowing since the financial crisis, resulting in less debt
on household balance sheets,"ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said. 

"Total bankruptcy filings will be just over 1 million new
cases filed this year, the lowest figure since 2008," he added.

The August bankruptcy filings did show slight increases from
July as total filings were up 1 percent from July's total of 87,715.

Noncommercial filings also increased 1 percent in August
from the July total of 84,110, and commercial filings increased 5 percent from
the July total of 3,605.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for
the first eight calendar months of this year remained unchanged at 3.49 (total
filings per 1,000 population) from the first seven months of the year.

The average daily filing total in August was 2,868, a 15-percent
decrease from the 3,370 total daily filings registered in August of last year.

States with the highest per capita filing rate (total
filings per 1,000 population) through the first eight months of 2013 were:

1. Tennessee (6.77)

2. Georgia (5.92)

3. Alabama (5.78)

4. Utah (5.42)

5. Illinois (5.30)

ABI has partnered with Epiq Systems, a leading provider of
managed technology for the global legal profession, in order to provide the
most current bankruptcy filing data for analysts, researchers and members of the
news media.

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