A growing number of Canadians are filing for bankruptcy later in life, new statistics show.

TD Bank released data last week showing that debt accumulation by people 65 and older was up 15 per cent in 2012 over the previous year.

According to Personal Bankruptcy Canada, the demographic traditionally associated with penny pinching is falling victim to increasing credit-debt.

The head of that association, Calgary bankruptcy trustee David Smith, said more and more of the people coming to his office for help are seniors — many of them in their eighties.

“It becomes unmanageable — and then it becomes stressful,” he said.

The biggest problem, he said, is that many people spend what they can access in credit rather than what they can actually afford.

“We have access to credit, we love our kids, we love our grandkids, we spend the money, whether we have it or not, he said.