Although there was an uptick in overall new bankruptcy filings last month, new filings by consumers were lower.
A 1 percent rise from the previous month’s downwardly revised number left total U.S. bankruptcy filings at 88,902 for August 2013.
Bankruptcy activity has fallen, however, from August 2012, when U.S. Bankruptcy Courts were hit with an upwardly revised 104,471 new filings.
The monthly statistics were reported Thursday by the American Bankruptcy Institute using data provided by Epiq Systems Inc.
ABI says its 13,000 members include mortgage lenders, people in the legal profession and others with a stake in the bankruptcy process.
Last month’s non-commercial filings totaled 85,113, according to the report.
Consumer activity improved from an upwardly revised 87,715 a month earlier and sank from an upwardly revised 99,498 a year earlier.
From Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, non-commercial bankruptcy filings amounted to approximately 693,747 cases.
“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 J. Gerdano said in the report. “Total bankruptcy filings will be just over one million new cases filed this year, the lowest figure since 2008.”
