ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

The American Bankruptcy Institute reported that total bankruptcy filings in the United States decreased 12 percent in February compared to the same month last year.

According to data provided by Epiq Systems, bankruptcy filings totaled 72,193 in February, down 82,336 filings a year earlier.

Consumer filings also declined 12 percent to 69,380 in February, dropping from 78,614 a year ago.

ABI indicated February’s total commercial decreased to 2,813, representing a 24-percent decline from the 3,722 business filings recorded in February of last year. Total commercial Chapter 11 filings also decreased 27 percent to 452 filings in February, down from the 619 commercial Chapter 11 filings recorded last February.

“Low interest rates, tighter lending standards and high costs to file continue to be reflected in fewer bankruptcy filings,” ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said. “As these trends persist, expect bankruptcy filings to continue to decline in 2014.”

While bankruptcies were down from a year ago, ABI pointed out February’s bankruptcy filing total trended upward from January.

Total bankruptcy filings for February represented a 6-percent increase over the 68,187 total filings registered in January.

Officials also mentioned the total noncommercial filings for February represented a 6-percent increase from January’s noncommercial filing total of 65,286.

Although the February commercial filing total represented a 3-percent decline from the January commercial filing total of 2,901, ABI noted February commercial Chapter 11 filings represented a 17-percent increase when compared to the 388 filings recorded the previous month.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate in February increased to 2.71 (total filings per 1,000 per population), a slight increase from the 2.64 rate registered in January 2014.

With fewer days to file in the month, the average total filings per day in February were 2,578, a 12 percent decrease from the 2,941 total daily filings in February of last year.

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

1. Tennessee (6.02)

2. Georgia (4.91)

3. Alabama (4.82)

4. Illinois (4.33)

5. Utah (4.06)

ABI 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.