Oral Answer by SMS Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee to Parliamentary Question on Bankruptcy

19 MAY 2010

19 May 2010 Posted in Parliamentary speeches and responses

Mdm Halimah Yacob, Member of Parliament, Jurong GRC

Question
To ask the Minister for Law in 2009 (a) what number of bankruptcy cases were due to credit card debts; (b) what percentage does this constitute in relation to the total number of bankruptcy cases; and (c) what are the profiles of these credit card debtors with respect to age, gender and income level.

Answer

  1. The Insolvency & Public Trustee’s Office (IPTO) collects statistics on bankruptcies arising from use of excessive credit, the causes of which may include not only credit card debts, but also bank overdrafts and hire-purchase spending. These are based on declarations made by bankrupts in their Statements of Affairs.

  2. 2,058 persons were made bankrupt last year of whom 1,845 cases have filed their Statements of Affairs. Of these, 852 or about 46 per cent declared that their insolvency arose from excessive use of credit.

  3. By gender, about 80 per cent were male and 20 per cent were female. By age group, 12.9 per cent were between 21 – 30 years old, 38.2 per cent were between 31 – 40 years old, 33.1 per cent were between 40 – 50 years old, while the remaining 15.8 per cent were above 51 years old.

  4. In terms of the breakdown by income, 18.7 per cent earned no income, 20.4 per cent earned $1,000 or less, 39.9 per cent earned between $1,000 to $2,000, 13.3 per cent earned between $2,000 to $3,000, while the remaining 7.7 per cent earned more than $3,000.

Last updated on 25 Nov 2012