---
title: "IV. Debt Problems"
description: "About one-in-seven Americans (14%) report that at some point in their lives they experienced debt problems serious enough to have caused them to file for bankruptcy or to use a credit consolidator. Those with annual family incomes of $100,000 or more are less likely than other income groups to have experience with these kinds of […]"
date: "2007-02-07"
authors:
  - name: "Pew Research Center"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2007/02/07/iv-debt-problems/"
---

# IV. Debt Problems

![Figure](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/legacy/308-interior.gif)

About one-in-seven Americans (14%) report that at some point in their lives they experienced debt problems serious enough to have caused them to file for bankruptcy or to use a credit consolidator.

Those with annual family incomes of $100,000 or more are less likely than other income groups to have experience with these kinds of debt problems.

[People who make payments on their credit card bills](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2007/02/07/what-americans-pay-for-and-how/310-3/) are more likely to have had a problem with debt than are those who don't use credits cards and those who pay their credit card bills in full each month.

Similarly, [homeowners who have one or more loans](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2007/02/07/what-americans-pay-for-and-how/310-3/) (for example, car loans, mortgages and second mortgages) are more likely than homeowners with no loans to have had a problem with debt.

The age group most likely to report having had a problem with debt are those in a broad range of middle years - from ages 30 through 64. Adults both younger and older than that are less than half as likely to report having had a problem with debt.

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**Next:** [V. Bill-Paying Practices](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2007/02/07/v-bill-paying-practices.md)