Consumer Law

AARP Report: Bankruptcy Filings By Older Americans Have More Than Doubled

By Deepak Gupta

The AARP's Public Policy Institute has just released Generations of Struggle, the first research report using data collected from the 2007 Consumer Bankruptcy Project.  The authors are Deborah Thorne of Ohio University, Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School, and Teresa A. Sullivan of the University of Michigan.

Debt has become the common denominator of American life:  In 2007, more than a million people filed for bankruptcy. The report's findings reveal grim news for older adults in particular. The rate of bankruptcy filings among those ages 65 and older has more than doubled since 1991, and the average age for filing bankruptcy has increased. Other important findings are:

• Americans age 55 or older have experienced the sharpest increase in bankruptcy filings.
• Americans age 34 or younger have experienced the sharpest decrease in bankruptcy filings.
• The influence of Baby Boomers on bankruptcy filings has moderated substantially.

Read the report here.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on June 18, 2008 (boomark / email).