In the USA in 1990, 83% of disposable income was spent on personal debt payments compared with 62% in 1983. There was a 140% increase in consumer debt in the 1980s. The average American in 1990 carried $8,570 of non-mortgage personal debt. One family in sixty-eight filed for bankruptcy in 1998; at the same time Congress has proposed legislation that would make it much harder for consumers to erase their debt by declaring bankruptcy.