Total bankruptcy filings totaled 632,130 nationwide during the first six months of 2012,  a 14% drop from the 731,500 total filings during the same period a year ago, according to an American Bankruptcy Institute report issued Thursday. 

"We are on pace for perhaps the lowest total new bankruptcies since before the financial crisis in 2008," said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. "With sustained low interest rates and weak consumer spending, we expect bankruptcies to stay at relatively low levels through the end of 2012."

The 601,184 total noncommercial filings for the first half of 2012 represented a 13% drop from the noncommercial filing total of 691,902 for the first half of 2011. Total commercial filings during the first six months of the year were 30,946, representing a 22% decrease from the 39,598 filings during the same period in 2011. Chapter 11 filings also fell during the first half of 2012 as the 5,313 filings represented a 12% decrease from the 6,070 chapter 11 filings during the first six months of 2011.