Monday marked the 3 year anniversary of when my wife’s bankruptcy was discharged. I wrote about the causes of her bankruptcy back in December. It goes without saying that Longmont Ford and Public Service Credit Union won’t be getting any of our business in the future. I’m also not a big fan of the Colorado court system which lets a summons be served a third-party (more on that in a few weeks).
Yesterday, I was asked to publish an infographic on bankruptcy. Given my own background with bankruptcy and it liberating me from having to live off of ramen and peanut butter for an entire year, it was an obvious choice for me.
Created by Doan Law.
Some numbers that stood out to me:
- The total number of bankruptcies last year. When compared to the estimated 2012 population, roughly .4% declared bankruptcy last year. That works out to 1 out of every 250 men, women, and children.
- In 2005, one in 41 households filed for bankruptcy. And that was before the recession! However, a year later, the number of filings dipped by 70%. Both numbers are probably a result of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 which went into effect in October of that year. People who were considering bankruptcy may have acted on it sooner than they might have otherwise to make sure they were covered by the more lenient rules.
- Medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy, yet 78% of all people who file for bankruptcy have health insurance. Considering my own experience with hospital bills, I can easily believe this. And since ObamaCare reform doesn’t address many of the issues that actually make health care expensive, I don’t see this statistic going down any time soon.
- California leads the pack with nearly a quarter million bankruptcies last year, or nearly 20% of the total. Meanwhile, their population is only 12.6% of the nation.
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