Personal bankruptcy filings in the United States have been climbing after hitting pandemic-era lows.
Consumer bankruptcy attorneys have told Business Insider that they’ve seen a notable increase in Gen Z and young millennial clients in recent years. The lawyers cited a mix of factors, including rising living costs, stagnant wages, and easy access to credit, as key drivers of the trend.
“We’re definitely seeing more young filers, and it’s not because they’re irresponsible,” said Florida bankruptcy attorney Chad Van Horn previously told Business Insider. “It’s because they entered adulthood during one of the most financially distorted environments in decades.”
Overall, more than 533,000 individual bankruptcy cases were filed last year, a roughly 11% increase from the year before.
The rise in bankruptcies comes as Americans continue to grapple with high prices and elevated borrowing costs.
“What we’re seeing is sort of the hangover from several years of government stimulus and all the various economic things that have driven up costs and expenses while keeping wages fairly flat,” Ed Boltz, a North Carolina bankruptcy attorney, previously told Business Insider.
While both Boltz and Van Horn said they’ve noticed an uptick in younger clients, the shift is difficult to quantify since there is no comprehensive national data source tracking the ages of bankruptcy filers in the US.
Scroll through TikTok, however, and the trend becomes apparent: Young people are using the platform to openly document their bankruptcy journeys, championing the process as a way to erase large amounts of debt.
“I 100% believe that filing bankruptcy has been the best thing that has happened to me,” a young woman said in one TikTok video.
If you’re a young person dealing with financial hardship — whether you’ve filed for bankruptcy or are considering it — we’d like to understand what led you to that point.
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