Debt’s Grip: What Consumer Bankruptcy Reveals About Financial Risk in America

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On this episode of the Ballard Spahr Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast, we examine consumer debt and bankruptcy through the lens of Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy (University of California Press, 2025), by Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless, and Deborah Thorne.

Based on decades of research from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, the nation’s most comprehensive study of bankruptcy filers, Debt’s Grip goes beyond aggregate data to document the lived experience of financial distress. The book shows how illness, job loss, aging, family structure, debt collection, and racial inequality converge to push households toward bankruptcy and what that reveals about how financial risk is allocated in the U.S. economy.

Rather than treating bankruptcy as a personal failure, the authors demonstrate how policy choices over time shifted economic risk from institutions to individuals, leaving many households one unexpected expense away from crisis. Those risks fall unevenly, with Black families, single mothers, and older Americans disproportionately affected.

The Authors

• Pamela Foohey, Allen Post Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law, is a principal investigator with the Consumer Bankruptcy Project and a leading scholar on bankruptcy and financial distress.
• Robert M. Lawless, Max L. Rowe Professor of Law, University of Illinois College of Law, is a nationally recognized empirical scholar of bankruptcy and consumer finance and a principal investigator of the Consumer Bankruptcy Project.
• Deborah Thorne, Professor of Sociology at the University of Idaho, brings a critical sociological lens, foregrounding the voices and experiences of bankruptcy filers. She also is a principal investigator of the Consumer Bankruptcy Project.

Podcast Highlights

In the episode, we discuss:

• Why people actually file for bankruptcy
• The debts most likely to lead to financial collapse
• How households struggle to stay afloat before filing
• The role of debt collection and litigation
• How people come to see bankruptcy as a solution
• Policy reforms that could reduce reliance on credit during hardship

Key Takeaways

• Bankruptcy is rarely about irresponsibility. It is often the endpoint of systemic risk-shifting.
• Financial distress is structurally unequal. Race, age, gender, and health matter.
• Filers exhaust alternatives before filing. Bankruptcy reflects resilience under pressure, not moral hazard.
• Policy choices matter. Stronger safety nets and a more humane bankruptcy system can reduce financial harm.

Conclusion

Debt’s Grip offers a rigorous, data-driven, and deeply human account of consumer bankruptcy in America. It challenges entrenched myths and provides valuable insight for policymakers, regulators, and industry participants alike.

We thank Professors Foohey, Lawless, and Thorne for joining the podcast and for their important contribution to the field.

Consumer Finance Monitor is hosted by Alan Kaplinsky, Senior Counsel at Ballard Spahr, and the founder and former chair of the firm's Consumer Financial Services Group. We encourage listeners to subscribe to the podcast on their preferred platform for weekly insights into developments in the consumer finance industry.

View the recording transcript here.

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