Hacker News Reader

Comment by frockington | Hacker News Reader

The chart showing bankruptcies changes per age group make it seem like its the same generation constantly filing for bankruptcy. Younger and middle aged bankruptcies have declined 50% while older bankruptcies have risen ~100%.

View on HN

The chart showing bankruptcies changes per age group make it seem like its the same generation constantly filing for bankruptcy.

Young people can't default on a mortgage if they can't afford to save enough for a deposit on a house in the first place.

And it wasn't until 2005 that student loans were made permanently non-dischargeable, rather than the previous first five years. Of course bankruptcies went down, what's the point?

You must have missed the 2000s when mortgages didn't have down payments.

Or you just overestimate how many kids who were dumb enough to get an ARM wanted to settle down and buy a house. More likely, the numbers are misleading in some way.

possible explanation: the younger generations aren't that sick yet, so they don't face massive medical bills for the most part. likewise, the younger generations don't have enough money to even approach certain sources of debt like a mortgage. (is mortgage considered a debt?)

It seems like it is technically a debt, but financially I wouldn't consider it debt until you have either failed to pay it back in the agreed upon time or are missing payments.

The word you are looking for is "secured" debt.

https://www.lendingtree.com/glossary/secured-debt/

The graphs are related to number of bankruptcy filings. I don;t think younger people are any less sick now than they used to unless preventive care has gotten significantly better, could be interesting to explore

You can't go bankrupt on student loans, so there's your young people with crushing debt that they can't discharge, much less take on other debts that could be discharged in a bankruptcy.

How could mortgage not be considered debt? You're taking someone else's money, spending it for your own benefit, and contracting to pay it back on a certain schedule + a hefty profit for the lender. Sure seems like classic debt to me. Just because there's a lot of structure around it and it's very common doesn't reduce the fact it is actual debt.

All the charts are clearly labeled 1991 to 2016.

Exactly, if the younger generations have decreased, while older has increased, its the same generation constantly inflating bankruptcies as they get older

Someone filing in the 35 to 44 category in 1991 would be in the 60-69 age range by 2016- basically it's the same age cohort declaring bankruptcy at a high rate as they age through the categories.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com