ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

Buy-here, pay-here dealers might be seeing a smaller pool of potential customers who just filed for bankruptcy.

The American Bankruptcy Institute cited data provided by Epiq Systems that showed total U.S. bankruptcy filings decreased 13 percent in February from the same month last year. Bankruptcy filings totaled 65,002 in February, down from the year-ago figure of 72,267.

Consumer filings declined 10 percent in February to 62,740 from the February 2014 consumer filing total of 69,403.

In addition, total commercial filings in February decreased to 2,262, representing a 21-percent decline from the 2,864 business filings recorded in February of last year. Total commercial Chapter 11 filings were down 25 percent as February’s commercial Chapter 11 filings decreased to 363 from the 484 filings completed in the same month last year.

“Sustained low interests rates and high costs to file continue to suppress the number of consumers and businesses seeking the financial fresh start of bankruptcy,” ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said. “The year-over-year filing totals have now declined for over four years.”

Total bankruptcy filings for the month of February increased 10 percent compared to the 59,050 total filings registered in January. The total noncommercial filings for February — 62,740 — also represented an 11 percent increase from the January noncommercial filing total of 56,586.

The February commercial filing total of 2,262 represented an 8 percent decrease from the January commercial filing total of 2,464. February’s 363 commercial Chapter 11 filings represented a 30 percent drop from the 519 filings recorded the previous month.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy-filing rate in February was 2.39 (total filings per 1,000 per population), an increase from January’s rate of 2.28.

Average total filings per day in February were 2,322, a 10 percent decrease from the 2,581 total daily filings recorded in February of last year.

States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) in February were:

1. Tennessee (5.17)

2. Alabama (4.83)

3. Georgia (4.66)

4. Illinois (4.22)

5. Mississippi (3.69)

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.