ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

Total U.S. bankruptcy filings now are on a streak stretching back more than four years. During each month of the run, filings have declined year-over-year, according to data provided by Epiq Systems to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

This year began with January filings decreasing 14 percent, leaving the bankruptcy filings total at 59,037. During the opening month of 2014, the figure came in at 68,271.

ABI indicated consumer filings declined 13 percent last month to 56,588 from the January 2014 consumer filing total of 65,347.

In addition, total commercial filings in January decreased to 2,449, representing a 16-percent drop-off from the 2,924 business filings recorded in January of last year.

Total commercial Chapter 11 filings, however, were up 33 percent as last month’s commercial Chapter 11 filings increased to 518 from 391 filings recorded a year earlier.

“High costs to file and sustained low interests rates continue to reduce the number of consumers and businesses seeking the fresh financial start of bankruptcy,” ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said. “The year-over-year filing totals have now declined for 50 consecutive months.”

Total bankruptcy filings for the month of January decreased 7 percent compared to the 63,169 total filings registered in December.

Total noncommercial filings for January (56,588) also represented a 7-percent dip from the December noncommercial filing total of 63,618.

The January commercial filing total of 2,449 represented a 1-percent decrease from the December commercial filing total of 2,483.

January’s 387 commercial Chapter 11 filings represented a 2-percent decrease from the 394 filings recorded the previous month.

ABI reported that the average nationwide per capita bankruptcy-filing rate in January was 2.28 (total filings per 1,000 per population), a decrease from December’s rate of 2.93.

Average total filings per day in January were 1,904, a 14-percent decrease from the 2,202 total daily filings recorded in January of last year. States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) in January included:

1. Tennessee (5.25)

2. Alabama (4.61)

3. Georgia (4.57)

4. Illinois (3.89)

5. Mississippi (3.33)

ABI partners 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.