ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

The American Bankruptcy Institute reported U.S. filings for November decreased 16 percent year-over-year; a pace that maintains the projection of the lowest annual total in seven years.

According to data provided by Epiq Systems, November bankruptcy filings totaled 62,403, down from the 74,070 filings registered in the same month last year.

Total commercial filings for November came in at 2,248, representing a 27-percent decrease from the 3,085 filings reported a year earlier.

Officials indicated commercial Chapter 11 filings totaled 296 in November, a 39-percent drop-off from the 487 filed in November of last year.

ABI pointed out the 60,155 total noncommercial filings for November represented a 15-percent decline from the year-ago noncommercial filing total of 70,985.

“Bankruptcies will continue to recede amidst tepid consumer spending, sustained low interest rates and high costs to file for both consumers and businesses,” ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said.

“We are on pace this year for bankruptcies to be well under 1 million filings, the lowest total since 2007,” Gerdano added

ABI also mentioned November bankruptcy filings decreased from October.

Total filings were down 21 percent from October’s total of 78,977. Noncommercial filings also decreased 21 percent in November from the October total of 76,122, and commercial filings also dropped 21 percent from the October total of 2,855.

November commercial Chapter 11 filings registered a 24-percent decrease from the 387 filings in October.

Officials tabulated that the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for the first 11 calendar months of 2014 (Jan. 1 through Nov. 30) decreased slightly to 2.97 (total filings per 1,000 per population) from the 3.03 rate reported for the first 10 months of the year.

The average daily filing total in November was 2,013, a 16-percent decrease from the 2,389 total daily filings reported in November of last year.

States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) through the first 11 months of this year included:

1. Tennessee (6.22)

2. Alabama (5.34)

3. Georgia (5.30)

4. Utah (4.93)

5. Illinois (4.72)

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.