Some Alarming Bankruptcy Statistics

• In 1998, one out of every 68 households in the United States filed for bankruptcy.
• Bankruptcy filings each year in the United States are now more than double the number of filings that occurred during the entire decade of the Great Depression.
• Consumer debt has increased an average of 8 percent annually over the last 20 years, with the average family now carrying $58,500 in debt.
• Unsecured debt, like credit card debt, has grown by an average of 14 percent annually since 1978. The average balance of debt carried by the people who use credit cards to borrow money grew by half from 1992 to 1995.
• Approximately 8.6 percent of filers have declared bankruptcy once before and around 2.5 percent of bankruptcy filers have declared three or more times.