ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

There might be less potential buyers coming to your buy-here, pay-here dealership — or current customers in your related finance company’s portfolio — who filed bankruptcy at some point since January.

The American Bankruptcy Institute said that total bankruptcy filings registered nationwide during the first six months of this year came in 12 percent lower than the figure reported through the first half of 2014.

According to data provided by Epiq Systems, filings completed between Jan. 1 and June 30 totaled 422,782, down from the 479,573 total filings reported during the same period a year ago.

Officials indicated the 407,764 total noncommercial filings for the first half of 2015 represented a-12 percent drop from the noncommercial filing total of 460,931 for the first half of 2014.

Total commercial filings during the first six months of the year came in at 15,018, representing a 19-percent decrease from the 18,642 filings during the same period a year ago.

Commercial Chapter 11 filings also fell during the first half of this year as the 2,576 filings represented a 15-percent drop from the 3,046 commercial Chapter 11 filings during the first six months of 2014.

“Bankruptcy filings through the first half of the year continue to recede amid sustained low interest rates and flat consumer debt levels,” ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said.

“Total bankruptcies remain on a pace to total just over 800,000 for 2015,” Gerdano added.

The 69,723 total bankruptcy filings for the month of June constituted a 6-percent decrease compared to the 73,855 filings in June of last year.

The 67,293 total noncommercial filings for June generated a 5-percent dip from last June’s noncommercial filing total of 70,996.

Total commercial filings last month came in at 2,430, representing a 15-percent decrease from the 2,859 filings during the same period last year.

Commercial Chapter 11 filings registered a 24-percent decline as the 483 commercial Chapter 11 filings filed in June of last year fell to 366 last month.

ABI indicated the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for the first six calendar months of 2015 decreased slightly to 2.72 (total filings per 1,000 per population) from the 2.73 rate for the first five months of the year. The average total filings per day in June were 2,324, a 6-percent drop-off from the 2,462 total daily filings in June of last year.

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

1. Tennessee (5.68)

2. Alabama (5.20)

3. Georgia (4.89)

4. Illinois (4.51)

5. Utah (4.40)

ABI has partnered with Epiq Systems, a 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.