According to recently-released study from the Urban Institute, more than one-third of Americans have defaulted on a debt and are in debt collection. That means that one in every three Americans have not timely paid at least one debt for many months and the creditor placed the account in the debt collection process – either in-house or with a collection agency.
To arrive at their conclusion, the authors of the study examined 7 million credit reports. From their review, they estimate that roughly 77 million Americans (35%) have a non-mortgage debt that is more than 180 days past due. An additional 5.3% have at least one debt that is between 30 and 180 days late.
With a few exceptions, the states with the highest percentage of their populations in debt collections are in located in the south. In 13 states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico and West Virginia — and Washington, D.C., more than 40% have a debt in collections. Florida’s percentage is 41%. Nevada has the highest percentage at 46.9%.
If you are experiencing debt problems and need the services of a Fort Myers Bankruptcy Attorney just give a call to the Bankruptcy Bodyguard at (239) 362-2755.
