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Working Paper
Requirements and prospects for a new time to payoff disclosure for open end credit under Truth in Lending
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-8, April 2005) made significant changes to procedures for managing consumer bankruptcy petitions, but it also included amendments to the Truth in Lending Act. Notable among the Truth in Lending changes is a section providing for new disclosures on the length of time it will take consumers to repay open end credit accounts in full if they make only the minimum required payments. This paper explores the range of assumptions necessary for the calculations underlying the new required disclosures, examines the ...
Journal Article
Consumers and credit disclosures: credit cards and credit insurance
Under the Truth in Lending Act, the Federal Reserve has the responsibility for writing the implementing rules, which it has carried out with its Regulation Z. Because this law is so critical for federal consumer protection policy in the credit area and because it imposes significant compliance costs on creditors, questions have been raised about consumers' use of the protections inherent in Truth in Lending. Even though measurement of the precise effect of particular disclosure requirements on credit-use behavior or competition is problematic, one can study consumers' reports of their views ...
Working Paper
New Evidence on an Old Unanswered Question : Why Some Borrowers Purchase Credit Insurance and Other Debt Protection and Some Do Not
Credit related insurance and other debt protection are products sold in conjunction with credit that extinguish a consumer?s debt or suspends its periodic payments if events like death, disability, or involuntary unemployment occur. High penetration rates observed in the 1950s and 1960s raised concerns about coercion in the sale of credit insurance. This study presents evidence on credit insurance purchase and debt protection decisions from a new survey. The findings provide little evidence of widespread or systematic coercion in purchases. Instead, findings suggest that risk aversion and ...
Journal Article
Mortgage refinancing
Journal Article
Recent developments in home equity lending
The equity that has accumulated in homes is one of the largest components of U.S. household wealth. In recent years, many homeowners have borrowed large amounts against that equity, frequently to finance new consumption expenditures or pay down outstanding consumer debt. In view of the growing importance of home equity credit in household finances, the Federal Reserve has for a number of years participated in nationwide surveys of the use of home equity loans. This article presents findings from a 1997 survey and from other sources of information on home equity lending.
Journal Article
Credit cards: use and consumer attitudes, 1970-2000
From modest origins in the 1950s as a convenient way for the relatively well-to-do to settle restaurant and department store purchases without carrying cash, credit cards have become a ubiquitous financial product held by households in all economic strata. Since the late 1960s, much federal legislation has been enacted to ensure that consumers have the protections and information they need to use this widely available form of open-end credit wisely. Nevertheless, concerns persist about whether consumers fully understand the costs and implications of using credit cards and whether credit cards ...
Journal Article
Consumers and debt protection products: results of a new consumer survey
This article presents a number of key findings from a review of the data that mortgage lending institutions reported for 2011 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The article documents home-lending activity reflected in the HMDA data and places the 2011 activity in historical context. It also examines changes in mortgage market concentration in recent years and in the credit scores of recent homebuyers. In addition, the article reviews patterns of lending across different racial or ethnic and income groups and across areas that differ in terms of housing market distress. Finally, it ...