The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), citing data provided by Epiq Systems, said commercial Chapter 11 filings totaled 425 in September, a 16% increase over September 2016’s total of 365 filings.

Overall business filings decreased to 2,854 filings in September, a 12% drop from September 2016’s total of 3,251 filings. Total U.S. filings registered 60,001 in September 2017, down 7% from last September’s total of 64,635. The 57,147 consumer filings in September also represented a 7% decrease from the September 2016 consumer total of 61,384.

“Consumers and businesses looking to stay afloat through financial distress may steer away from the relief of bankruptcy due to high filing costs,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “The recommendations of ABI’s Chapter 11 Commission and the ongoing efforts of the Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy aim to make bankruptcy more accessible for struggling businesses and families.”

Total U.S. bankruptcy filings fell 1% during the first nine months of 2017 (January 1 to September 30) from the same period a year ago as the 589,088 filings decreased from 593,206 in 2016. The 560,239 total noncommercial filings through the first three quarters of 2017 also represented a 1% drop from the noncommercial filing total of 564,244 through the first three quarters of 2016.

Commercial bankruptcy filings during the first nine months of the year decreased 0.4% to 28,849 from the 28,962 filings during the same period in 2016. Commercial Chapter 11 filings also decreased during the first nine months of 2017 as the 4,200 filings represented a 3% drop from the 4,317 Chapter 11 filings during the first nine months of 2016.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for the first nine calendar months of 2017 (January 1 to September 30) decreased slightly to 2.53 (total filings per 1,000 population) from the 2.55 rate for the first eight months of the year.