Wichita ? Kansans filed what is believed to be a state record number of bankruptcies last year, and more people are also seeking help with their debt payments, officials said.

Bankruptcy court clerks handled 13,940 filings in 2001, up from 11,331 the year before, said Hugh Zavadil, chief deputy clerk for U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Kansas.

Zavadil said he doesn’t have records before 1998 but thinks that year was the previous record, when Kansans filed 13,252 bankruptcies.

Although it’s too early to determine what this year will be like, Zavadil said he sees nothing on the horizon that would indicate a decrease in bankruptcy filings.

Also, the number of people seeking help to manage debt is on the rise, said Jeff Witherspoon, executive director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Wichita and Salina.

“Our numbers are up, too,” Witherspoon said. “And unfortunately a lot of the folks we’re seeing we’re not able to put on debt management plans.”

The nonprofit agency’s debt-management program works to negotiate lower interest rates and payments for clients juggling several creditors. Clients make a monthly payment to Consumer Credit Counseling, which then disburses the funds to the clients’ creditors.

Consumer Credit Counseling is having to turn more people away than ever because their debt is so high they can’t even handle the reduced payment to the agency, Witherspoon said. He suspects many of the people who can’t qualify for the program turn to bankruptcy.

The agency is beginning to see laid-off workers in the Wichita office as they struggle to get by on unemployment benefits a maximum of $333 a week. Witherspoon is worried that laid-off workers are starting to raid their retirement accounts, a quick fix with long-term negative effects.

The average client in the Wichita and Salina offices carries $29,546 in debt not including a mortgage or rent payment, while their net income averages $24,144.

“So their debt is more than their income, and 10 years ago that wasn’t the case,” Witherspoon said.

The average client is 35 years old and is trying to pay off 11 creditors, he said.

Witherspoon has some advice for those who are struggling to make credit card payments along with mortgage notes: Always pay your mortgage first. Anytime you’re behind on a mortgage spells trouble because the bank can foreclose on you, leaving you without a home.