Many Minority Retirees Are Struggling With Debt

By Kenneth Terrell   En español Published May 04, 2021

Older retirees in predominantly minority neighborhoods are struggling with debt in ways their counterparts in white communities are not, according to a new study from the Urban Institute.

To figure out how older Americans have fared financially in recent years, researchers sampled credit bureau data from 2010 to 2019, tracking individuals’ financial progress during that

period. Because the credit bureau information did not include details on race, the researchers used ZIP code information from the Census Bureau to determine how borrowers’ communities

compared racially.

The study found that older adults in minority communities were more likely to have faced economic challenges during that decade, even though all of the individuals the researchers tracked

began the period with good, and comparable, credit scores. For example, 26.7 percent of residents in minority ZIP codes experienced poor credit scores during that time, while only 16.6

percent of their counterparts in white ZIP codes did.

Retirees in minority communities also struggled for longer periods than their counterparts in wealthier communities. In the minority communities, 17.1 percent of older adults had poor credit

for five or more years, while only 13.5 percent of those in white neighborhoods experienced the same thing.

"Part of that difference could be just the types of borrowing opportunities those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods may have compared to those in more advantaged neighborhoods, and

unsecured debt versus secured debt,” says Barbara Butrica, an Urban Institute senior fellow who coauthored the report. For example, borrowers in lower-income, minority communities may be

taking payday loans or “may not be able, oftentimes, to qualify for mortgages and loans through traditional borrowing establishments."

Older residents of predominantly minority communities were also more likely to see their debts go to a collection agency. The researchers found that roughly 20 percent of loans among the

oldest lower-income and minority retirees end up in collections for nonpayment. That's roughly twice the rate for higher-income and white retirees.