countercyclicality of bankruptcy filings found in U.S. data? Yes, it does, but only if we explicitly model recessions as displaying … bankruptcy risk discouraging households from using credit. This finding contradicts the intuition that access to credit helps …

consumer bankruptcy filers. In particular, the authors’ data allow them to distinguish between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 … bankruptcy filings, to observe changes in credit demand and credit supply explicitly, and to differentiate existing and new … credit accounts. The paper has four main findings. First, despite speedy recovery in their risk scores after bankruptcy …

Bankruptcy reform in 2005 eliminated debtors’ ability to discharge private student loan debt in bankruptcy. This law … bankruptcy even if they had sufficient income to service their debt. Using a unique, nationally representative sample of … anonymized credit bureau files, we examine the bankruptcy filing and delinquency rates of private student loan borrowers in …

What are the positive and normative implications of eliminating bankruptcy protection for indebted individuals? Without … bankruptcy protection, creditors can collect on defaulted debt to the extent permitted by wage garnishment laws. The elimination …

This paper argues that the U.S. bankruptcy reform of 2005 played an important role in the mortgage crisis and the … current recession. When debtors file for bankruptcy, credit card debt and other types of debt are discharged - thus loosening … debtors' budget constraints. Homeowners in financial distress can therefore use bankruptcy to avoid losing their homes, since …