. Following bankruptcy reform, wealthier households under 50 reduced their arrears between 2004 and 2007. During the sub …

"This paper examines how filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 13 helps financially distressed debtors save their homes … reduce the total amount owed. We develop a model of debtors' decisions to default on their mortgages and file for bankruptcy … and we evaluate it using a new dataset of debtors who filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 13 in 2006. We also examine the …