After pushing up activity for three months in a row, U.S. consumers eased up on filing new bankruptcy cases.
From April 1 through April 30 of this year, 87,954 combined new bankruptcy filings were made by consumers and businesses.
Filings fell from March, when total new bankruptcies increased for the third consecutive month to 91,253. The March total was revised up from 91,234 originally reported by the American Bankruptcy Institute.
In the same month last year, there were 100,770 bankruptcies filed, revised up from the original number of 100,702.
Last month, 3.09 bankruptcy filings were made per 1,000 in U.S. population.
States with the highest per-capita rates were Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois and Utah.
Noncommercial bankruptcy filings made up 84,579 of April 2014’s activity.
Consumers somewhat curtailed activity compared to March, when a revised 87,932 filings were made.
In April 2013, there were a revised 96,357 consumer filings made.
Prior to April 2014, filings had risen each month since December 2013.
Noncommercial bankruptcy filings amounted to 307,183 during the four months ended April 30.
ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano said sluggish consumer spending and the high cost of filing a bankruptcy case have kept the filing rates lower than normal.
