Bankruptcy – Brace for Impact?

Driving home yesterday (I saw the Fulks van again, man, that van rocks), I was listening to NPR. They had a segment on the impending bankruptcy legislation. The attorneys they interviewed predicted that personal bankruptcies will rise 25% over the next six months. Wow. That could really hurt us (Verity Credit Union). Bankruptcies are so expensive for businesses such as ours. I am torn on the topic. As a consumer, it bugs me that people skip out on paying their bills and then I have to pay more for my products and services. As an employee of a financial institution, it really bugs me that people ‘go banko’ (as we call it in the industry) and then we don’t hit our income numbers and I don’t get all of my bonus. But as a person, I know that bankruptcy is the only option for some folks. I read stories of families devastated by medical bills or other disasters and I am glad we don’t have debtors’ prisons anymore. But then I see people who have simply bought too many shoes and too much car and call it quits on paying people back and that is just wrong. Can’t they make legislations that only allows only deserving people to default on their obligations? Probably not.