August 27, 2008

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) -- A study finds that, while the bankruptcy filing rate for people under 55 has fallen, it has soared for older Americans.

The Consumer Bankruptcy Project examined a sampling of noncommercial bankruptcies filed between 1991 and 2007.

The older the age group, the worse it got. People 65 and up were more than twice as likely to file during that period, and the filing rate for those 75 and older more than quadrupled.

One of the authors of the study, Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, says older Americans are hit by a one-two punch of having to keep working but facing medical problems, and the two are often intertwined.

Warren notes increasing numbers of Americans are entering their retirement years with significant debt and are still paying off mortgages. She says it's wrong to assume that lives of luxury are bankrupting seniors; rather, they're incurring debts to meet needs such as medical treatment.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.