What Kind Of Person Files for Bankruptcy?

Elizabeth Warren, (Senator from Massachusetts), and former professor at Harvard Law School, in her book The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt, identified the following characteristics most common with people filing for bankruptcy.

• The average age for someone filing for bankruptcy is 38.
• Couples account for 44% of those filing for bankruptcy.
• Women, filing alone, comprise 30% of the bankruptcy filers.
• Single men account for 26% of the bankruptcy filers.
• Statistics show that people filing for bankruptcy are slightly better educated than the general population.
• Out of the entire bankruptcy population, two out of three have lost a job.
• Not surprising, half of those filing have experienced a serious health problem.
• The vast majority of those filing have either suffered a job lost, medical event, or divorce. Fewer than 9% do not fall into one of these groups.

There is a very good chance that you will find yourself in one or more of these categories.