The American elderly are at risk, experts say, and it is not necessarily because of medical issues. A number of factors have come together to create an enormous debt problem for the aging Florida population. With shrinking or fixed incomes, many of these individuals are turning to bankruptcy for debt relief.
Even after decades of saving, those who are approaching or are currently in retirement have less money at their disposal than they might have otherwise expected. With many retirement accounts tied to the economy, the Great Recession in 2008 shattered the financial foundation that many people had built for their retirements. As the economy was slow to rebound, most seniors had little choice but to turn to lines of credit simply in order to survive.
The Consumer Bankruptcy Project reported on the ongoing issue of debt among the senior citizen population, reporting that the number of elderly individuals seeking bankruptcy skyrocketed over recent years. Many of these filings are for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which can help people fully discharge all of their unsecured debt. This includes things like credit card bills and medical debt, both of which senior citizens tend to struggle with.
Households with older adults now carry double the amount of debt than they did just 12 years ago, and the effects are devastating and palpable. For senior citizens in Florida, pursuing bankruptcy might be the best option for debt relief, since they may be unable to return to work in order to address their mounting debts. Although it can feel overwhelming at first, bankruptcy might be a smart solution to debt woes in later years.