“Till pandemic do us part” Divorce on rise, Weddings Furloughed

For couples who live together, forced “quality time” due to a pandemic has been considered an exciting change in the household’s dynamic, to say the least.

Trouble in paradise? Possibly, as one firm found, the amount of people inquiring about divorce loans has risen 62% in 2020, compared to last year.

If you didn’t know divorce loans were an option in the first place, Loanry, an online loan lead generator, said divorces could cost upwards of $12,000 in states like Delaware and New York, and in California up to $14,236.

Loanry looked through their loan transactions and found that not only were divorce loans higher by 68% in New York and 71% in Florida, but the wedding loan business was in trouble.

2020 has been a record year for marriages ending – and hundreds of thousands of couples being unable to hold a wedding in the first place.

According to Statista, over 2 million weddings occur every year in the US, at an average cost of $30,000. Wedding site The Knot found 93% of planned marriages were rescheduled. Loanry found 11% of planned weddings took out loans.

For those of you at home (most of you), couples are paying back $3.7 billion without even saying, “I do.”

Answering the question no one asked: what is the worst way to start a lifelong journey together?

Loanry has sets of advice to deal with the costs of both weddings and divorces, but the simplest seems to be “don’t do either.”

“Financing a wedding using a loan should be taken very seriously, and we don’t recommend it,” Ethan Taub, founder of Loanry.com, said. “Finding ways to cut costs on your wedding expenses is a far more effective alternative to avoid unnecessary debt yet still enjoy your big day.”

He went on to comment that while divorce in this stressful year is sad, make sure to research the best, most affordable option.

Kevin Travers was a Reporter at deBanked.