{ "id": "2005-septemberoctober-database-answers-bankruptcy-questions", "slug": "2005-septemberoctober-database-answers-bankruptcy-questions", "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2005-septemberoctober-database-answers-bankruptcy-questions.html", "year": 2005, "month": "September/October", "monthNum": 9, "headline": "Database answers bankruptcy questions", "kicker": "SPOTLIGHT: BUSINESS", "author_name": "Rosemary Winters", "author_title": "Reporter", "affiliation": "The Salt Lake Tribune", "summary": "The Salt Lake Tribune conducted a computer-assisted investigation into Utah's high personal bankruptcy rate by analyzing a random sample of 1,053 cases filed in 2003-2004, collecting detailed data from court records to identify underlying causes.", "keywords": [ "bankruptcy", "database", "investigation" ], "topics": [ "Data & Databases", "Investigative Methods", "Business & Economy" ], "technologies": [ "Access", "Excel", "PACER", "PDF" ], "full_text": "Since 2002, Utah has held the dubious distinction as the personal bankruptcy capital of the nation, with one of every 37 households filing for bankruptcy each year.\n\nYet the reasons for the state's high rate were largely unknown before The Salt Lake Tribune launched a computer-assisted project last year.\n\nThe Tribune's business desk first studied Utah's rising bankruptcy rate in 1999 as the state was soaring to record levels, but before it hit No. 1. This time we decided to take a closer look at the cases and record more information from each filing.\n\nBusiness editor Lisa Carricaburu led discussions about what kind of data needed to be collected for the project and what questions we wanted to answer. Beat reporters had theories they wanted to test. For example, real estate reporter Lesley Mitchell wondered whether Utah's high rate of home ownership and high mortgage foreclosure rates play into bankruptcy filings. Health care reporter Linda Fantin wanted to test a common perception that aggressive collection tactics by a Salt Lake City-based health care provider led to many bankruptcy filings.\n\nBecause more than 20,000 personal bankruptcy cases are filed in Utah each year, we decided to study a representative sample. We consulted statisticians at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University to determine a reliable sample size. Selecting every 20th case, we obtained a random sample of 1,053 cases filed between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004. At a 95 percent confidence level, the sample had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.\n\nElectronic copies of bankruptcy case documents are kept as Adobe Portable Document Files by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Utah in Salt Lake City. Using PACER, Utah bankruptcy cases can be accessed through the court's Web site at www.utb.uscourts.gov, but they cost 8 cents per page and are about 30 pages or longer. Downloading the 1,053 cases we studied would have cost more than $2,000.\n\nInstead, we obtained permission to use public computer terminals at the bankruptcy clerk's office to access the records for free. Tribune reporters Julie DeHerrera and I compiled the database, using laptops and the court's Internet access to open case files on the court's computer and then transcribe information into a Web form, which submitted the data into a Tribune database. The Web form and underlying Microsoft Access database were created by the Tribune's new media editor, Tony Semerad.\n\nWe used sequential case numbers to open and record every 20th case, assuring the randomness of our sample. We recorded up to 170 items from each case, including income, property, number of dependents and types of debt. We spent about 15 minutes on each case.\n\nThe data entry took nearly four months to complete and was finished in August 2004.\n\nOnce the database was completed, Semerad chose Microsoft Excel to analyze the data because of its easy sorting and statistical functions. He primarily used means, medians and ratios.\n\nDeHerrera and I also flagged potential outlier cases based on data that looked unusual when it was being entered. Semerad distilled general trends from the data, including credit card use, housing expenses, average income, family size, charitable giving, medical debt and whether incomes increased or decreased in the years prior to filing. DeHerrera, I and business reporters Steven Oberbeck, Linda Fantin and Bob Mims helped flesh out the findings. Data from the story was compared to state and national averages.\n\nReporters added interviews with people who filed for bankruptcy, attorneys and financial experts. Using names from the database, they were able to speak with several people who had gone through the bankruptcy filing process. This was perhaps the most challenging piece of the project, since most people didn't want to have their financial troubles publicized.\n\nWe found that Utah's economy, with wages below the national average but living costs at or above average, combines with a culture that emphasizes large families and material success to push people to the brink of financial ruin more often than in other states. Many Utahns live paycheck to paycheck, juggling mortgage payments and other debt with living expenses, so a catastrophe such as a medical problem or job loss makes them more vulnerable to bankruptcy.\n\nAnd, belying the myth that bankruptcy filers are irresponsible spenders, we found evidence that filers chose bankruptcy as a last resort, trying alternatives such as debt counseling, borrowing money from relatives or even selling blood plasma to pay off their debts.\n\nAlthough the Federal Housing Administration recommends that no more than 30 percent of net monthly income pay for housing, we found that bankruptcy filers, on average, spend 47 percent. We found that 85 percent of people who declare bankruptcy are gainfully employed and nearly 40 percent of filers experienced a significant decrease in their annual incomes during the three years prior to filing. Average take-home pay was $1,577 a month, but average monthly living expense was $2,126.\n\nThe cost of health care was also a significant factor. Few filers reported health insurance as a monthly expense but 60 percent reported having unpaid medical bills, a percentage double the national average. Intermountain Health Care's collection tactics were not deemed a significant factor in the bankruptcy rate.\n\nReligious culture also appeared to be a factor. In a state where about 70 percent of the population are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, social norms often dictate that residents marry young and have large families. Many Utahns, in turn, get married, buy homes and have children at a time when they are at the lowest point of their earning power. Often, bankruptcy was filed in an effort to avoid a home foreclosure.\n\nAlmost two-thirds (63.6 percent) of people who filed for bankruptcy had one or more dependent children, making them twice as likely to be supporting children than the average household nationally. Three cases even had seven, eight or 10 kids.\n\nIn addition, members of the LDS Church typically donate 10 percent of their income to the church. Tithing, which was reported by 12 percent of filers, may play an ancillary role in some cases by reducing disposable incomes and allowing people to obtain more credit than they can afford when loans are based on their pre-tithe income.\n\nThrough our research, we were able to show that Utah is No. 1 for bankruptcy for a web of related reasons. The state's socioeconomic forces place more people on the edge, making it easier for people to slip into financial disaster when pushed by unexpected debt.\n\nContact Rosemary Winters by e-mail at rwinters@sltrib.com", "provenance": { "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6", "extracted_at": "2026-07-05", "verified": true }, "similar": [ { "slug": "1998-july-the-week-long-bankruptcy-series-focused-on-the-following-questions", "score": 0.395 }, { "slug": "1997-october-busted-tracking-bankruptcy", "score": 0.319 }, { "slug": "2002-march-april-money-in-and-from-the-bank", "score": 0.226 }, { "slug": "1998-july-booming-or-busting-rising-bankruptcies", "score": 0.212 }, { "slug": "2005-may-june-extra-extra-your-guide-to-the-latest-investigative-work", "score": 0.105 } ], "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2005-septemberoctober-database-answers-bankruptcy-questions.html", "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2005-septemberoctober-database-answers-bankruptcy-questions.json" }