Our Love Affair with Credit

Unfortunately, it's a freedom many people don't know. Even though most Americans appear to be handling their debt just fine, a significant—and growing—number of people are in serious trouble. Consumer bankruptcy filings have more than doubled since 1990, as shown in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2. Bankruptcy in America

Year	Total Nonbusiness Filings
1990	718,107
1991	872,438
1992	900,874
1993	812,898
1994	780,455
1995	874,642
1996	1,124,286
1997	1,349,510
1998	1,405,695
1999	1,281,360
2000	1,217,628
2001	1,451,789
2002	1,566,358
2003	1,624,677
2004	1,563,145