What happened to non-bankruptable debt before? My guess is that the vast majority of them just sat in limbo with no repayment and are effectively just as worth

What happened to non-bankruptable debt before? My guess is that the vast majority of them just sat in limbo with no repayment and are effectively just as worthless as defaulted debt. Really this just cleans up the books and force people to have a more realistic assessment of what the debt being held is actually worth, which is always a plus.