Fewer consumers across the country resorted to bankruptcy last month. Among all states, Mississippi had the worst bankruptcy rate.
U.S. bankruptcy courts were hit with 73,295 new case filings, including commercial and non-commercial filings, during September.
Activity dipped from the previous month, when 75,170 new bankruptcies emerged, and made a more meaningful decline from 80,703 filings in September 2013.
The numbers were published by the American Bankruptcy Institute.
During the first nine months of the year, the per-capita rate was 3.03 filings per thousand in population.
Tennessee maintained the highest per-capita rate of all states: 6.31. Alabama trailed with a rate of 5.34 per thousand, then a rate of 5.29 in Georgia, 4.98 in Utah and 5.24 in Indiana.
September’s overall activity included 70,681 non-commercial bankruptcy filings.
Consumer filings declined from the previous month’s 72,467 filings.
In the same month during 2013, there were 77,275 non-commercial bankruptcies.
From Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, consumer bankruptcy filings amounted to 678,685.
