June 2024 Newsletter
From The Certified Elder Law Attorney's Desk:
William W. “Bill” Erhart
Alzheimer's and Early Financial Toll
Before people show symptoms or are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder (“ADRD”) their spending, borrowing, and management of money changes. Economists and medical experts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Georgetown University examined Medicare records with data from credit bureaus, looking at borrowing behavior in the years before and after a diagnosis of ADRD.
Credit scores among people who eventually develop dementia fall years before their disease is diagnosed. A year before diagnosis, these consumers were 17.2 percent more delinquent on mortgage payments than before. Another 34.3 percent increased delinquency on their credit card bills. The study evidenced consumers falling behind on their debts five years before diagnosis.
“The results are striking in both their clarity and their consistency,” said Carole Roan Gresenz, a Georgetown University economist who was one of the study’s authors. Credit scores and delinquencies, she said, “consistently worsen over time as...”