Female bankruptcy levels on the up

A growing number of women are becoming bankrupt as a result of credit card debts and rising household bills, figures showed today.

The proportion of women bankrupts has risen from 42% to 44% over the past year, according to accountants Wilkins Kennedy, which surveyed 1,200 bankrupts across England and Wales. Since 2002, the figure has risen from 32% to 42%.

Keith Stevens, insolvency partner at the firm, said if the trend continues at the current rate half of all people going through the bankruptcy process will be women by the end of the decade.

"It is difficult to see the situation getting any better because so many people are already teetering on the brink of the precipice," he said. "A modest rise in interest rates or a fall in income could be enough to tip them over the edge."

Mr Stevens said the problem stemmed from the fact that women's salaries have failed to keep up with their need to be financially independent. Research by Halifax shows the proportion of new mortgages taken out by single women has more than doubled in the last 20 years and now accounts for 23% of the total market.

"Women are taking on a much greater debt burden than they used to, but their income still lags behind," Mr Stevens said.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), a charity that helps people unable to cope with their debts, said the proportion of women contacting the service for help had risen to 53.4% last year, up from 51.9% in 2003. The charity's founder, Malcolm Hurlston, said the organisation had also seen an increase in the size of women's debts, particularly among women between the ages of 25 and 30.

"Women have always made up a large proportion of our clients because they have traditionally been more prepared to seek help," Mr Hurlston said. He added that women have a greater capacity to borrow now than in the past, and so the likelihood of getting into trouble had also increased.

Last week, research showed that people in their 50s have the worst credit card debt problems, with one debtor owing a total of £412,000 on 57 credit cards.

The unnamed 56-year-old is the largest debtor on file with the CCCS, which said that although credit card spending has slowed since 2005, those over 53 were increasing their spending.

Meanwhile, recent government figures showed personal bankruptcy has risen year-on-year. The number of individual bankruptcy petitions filed in the High Court and county courts in England and Wales between April and June rose 10% to 15,796 compared with the same quarter last year, the Department for Constitutional Affairs said. The government's Insolvency Service also said the number of people becoming insolvent in the spring had reached record levels.