Failing to pay bills on time and exhibiting more could be another of early , according to a new study. The research underscores previous work showing that Alzheimer’s patients and their families struggle with decision-making, including on financial matters. Early-onset may miss payments, make impulsive purchases, or put money into risky investments they would not have considered before the disease.
Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York partnered with medical researchers at Georgetown University, aiming to discover the consequences that memory disorders could have on a person’s financial outcome without a proper diagnosis. Scientists analyzed data from Equifax on how people’s borrowing behavior changes in the years before and after an Alzheimer’s or dementia diagnosis, reports. The study found that those who developed dementia had credit scores that fell sharply long before their diagnosis, with subjects 17.
2 percent more likely to be late on mortgage payments and 34.3 percent more likely to pay credit card bills late. “The results are striking in both their clarity and their consistency,” Carole Roan Gresenz, a Georgetown University economist who was one of the study’s authors, said.
One Alzheimer's patient said he went as far as buying a BMW he could not afford, saying his “wife was not thrilled.” Jay Reinstein bought the BMW just before his diagnosis. He said: “I went into a showroom and I came home with a BMW.
” Another New York Fed study .