ABI Study: Baby Boomer Bankruptcies Growing
A study from the American Bankruptcy Institute says that 42 percent of consumer bankruptcies filed in 2007 were by Baby Boomers – those between the ages of 45 and 64 – and that the boomer generation continues to be disproportionately represented in bankruptcy proceedings.
Featured in the September issue of the ABI Journal, the study – Aging and Bankruptcy Revisited – updates a 2002 study that studied the correlation of age and bankruptcy filings. The new study found that the percentage of people filing bankruptcy who were over the age of 55 increased by 61 percent from 2002 to 2007, outstripping the aging of the general population as a whole.
In addition, the study found that the median age of those filing for bankruptcy increased to almost 45 in 2007, from 41.4 in 2002 and 37.7 in 1994. Americans under the age of 25 experienced the largest percentage drop in bankruptcy filings from 2002 to 2007.
Researchers found that the housing crisis has been responsible for many consumer bankruptcy filings. The study found that there was a 118 percent increase in bankruptcy filings in those states that suffered decreases in home price indexes.
Another trend noted by researchers was the rise in Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings, although they could pinpoint whether it was because of the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 or because more debtors were using a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing as a strategy to keep their homes from foreclosure.
Greg Gilbert
Keith Maynard
