ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

Bankruptcy filing in the U.S. took a double-digit slide this past month.

That’s according to data provided by Epiq Systems Inc. to the American Bankruptcy Institute, which showed total bankruptcy filings fell by 12 percent year-over-year in October.

Overall filings totaled 78,957 last month, down from 89,948 filed during October 2013, with Tennessee and Alabama seeing the highest per capita filing rates, respectively.

Consumer filings, in particular, also fell by 12 percent to 76,110 in October. Last year, during the same period consumers filed for bankruptcy a total of 89,948 times.

Total commercial chapter 11 findings also dipped considerably, falling 27 percent to 384 fillings last month, down from 529 filed in October 2013.

Average total filings per day in October 2014 were 2,547, a 12 percent decrease from the 2,902 total daily filings in October 2013, according to ABI.

“Total bankruptcy filings, credit card delinquencies and foreclosures continue to decline as consumers and businesses shore up their balance sheets,” said ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano. “Low interest rates and high filing costs will drive total bankruptcies for the year below 1 million for the first time since 2007.”

Rates Up Slightly From September

Though filings were down year-over-year, rates did increase a bit over September numbers.

Total filings for October rose by 8 percent compared to the 73,317 filings in September.

Total noncommercial filings for October also represented an 8 percent increase from the September noncommercial filing total of 70,688, ABI reported.

Commercial filing rose by 8 percent, as well, up from September’s total of 2,629.

October commercial chapter 11 filings were up 3 percent from the 375 filings recorded in September 2014. 

Overall filings per day in October were up 4 percent over the September rate of 2,444.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy-filing rate in October was 3.03 (total filings per 1,000 population).

This rate remains unchanged from the first nine months of the year.

States with the highest per capita filing rates in October were as follows:

1. Tennessee (6.32)

2. Alabama (5.40)

3. Georgia (5.36)

4. Utah (5.02)

5. Illinois (4.82)