Search Results
Journal Article
Who Are the Unbanked? Characteristics Beyond Income
As the U.S. economy recovered from the Great Recession, more households entered the banking system. Still, 9 million households were unbanked in 2015. Understanding the characteristics of these households is critical in designing effective policies for financial inclusion. Policymakers often consider low income to be the defining characteristic of the unbanked. However, this broad characterization may mask large differences in banking status within low-income groups. {{p}} Fumiko Hayashi and Sabrina Minhas examine which household characteristics beyond income are associated with households? ...
Briefing
Digital, Financial, and Health Insurance Exclusion Experienced by Low-Income Households
Many low-income households are excluded from essential services such as home internet access, bank accounts, and health insurance coverage. We examine to what degree low-income households experience digital, financial, and health insurance exclusion and assess whether education and race are correlated with exclusion. We find that more than 10 percent of low-income households experienced multiple types of exclusion in 2019, with more pronounced results for households with lower educational attainment.
Journal Article
Mobile Banking Use and Consumer Readiness to Benefit from Faster Payments
The U.S. payments industry is currently implementing faster payments that will enable consumers and businesses to send and receive payments almost instantly at any time of day, any day of the year. Mobile banking in particular may allow consumers to realize the full benefits of faster payments. As a result, a consumer’s use of mobile banking is a good indicator of their readiness to benefit from faster payments.Fumiko Hayashi and Ying Lei Toh examine which consumer characteristics are associated with mobile banking use as well as what other factors may influence consumer readiness. They ...
Working Paper
Which Types of Unbanked Households Are More (or Less) Likely to Open a Bank Account?
Using multi-year survey data, we conduct a regression model analysis to examine which types of unbanked households are more likely to open a bank account and which types are less likely. We proxy for households’ likelihood of opening a bank account using their prior banking status and interest in having a bank account. Unbanked households who previously had a bank account and are interested in having a bank account are more likely to open an account. These households tend to be more educated, to be native-born, to use alternative financial services, and to have access to digital technology. ...
Journal Article
The new debit card regulations: effects on merchants, consumers, and payments system efficiency
Public authorities recently intervened in the U.S. payment card industry to address tensions over the growing fees charged to merchants for processing debit card transactions. In this second article of Hayashi's two-part series, the author reviews how regulatory changes have affected merchants, consumers and the overall efficiency of the nation's payments system. ; She finds that competition among card networks for merchants has risen, and the fees imposed on merchants have declined, on average. However, it is too soon to know whether consumers will reap benefit and whether the efficiency of ...
Working Paper
Payment card rewards programs and consumer payment choice
Card payments have been growing very rapidly. To continue the growth, payment card networks keep adding new merchants and card issuers try to stimulate their existing customers? card usage by providing rewards. This paper seeks to analyze the effects of payment card rewards programs on consumer payment choice, by using consumer survey data. Specifically, we examine whether credit/debit reward receivers use credit/debit cards relatively more often than other consumers, if so how much more often, and which payment methods are replaced by reward card payments. Our results suggest that (i) ...
Briefing
Interchange fees and network rules: a shift from antitrust litigation to regulatory measures in various countries
This article summarizes the global trends in public authority involvement in payment card pricing and rules, examines reasons for the shift to regulatory measures, and considers potential implications for the United States.
Working Paper
The economics of payment card fee structure: policy considerations of payment card rewards
This paper considers possible public policies that could improve efficiency and welfare distribution in the U.S. retail payments industry. Mainly, four options, i) encouraging competition; ii) allowing merchants to surcharge; iii) regulating merchant fees; and iv) regulating payment card rewards, are discussed, but each option has advantages and disadvantages. Any single option may not achieve the policymakers' objective; rather, combining several policy options may be required. ; Also issued as a Payments System Research Working Paper.
Working Paper
Defining Households That Are Underserved in Digital Payment Services
US households that lack digital means of making and receiving payments cannot participate fully in an increasingly digitized economy. Assessing the scope of this problem and addressing it requires a definition of households that are underserved in digital payments. Traditional definitions of households underserved in the banking system—those that are unbanked and those that are underbanked—do not account for the ownership of nonbank transaction accounts that can be used to make and receive digital payments. In this paper, we define households underserved in digital payments by considering ...
Working Paper
Effects of credit scores on consumer payment choice
Anecdotally, a negative relationship between the use of debit cards and credit scores has been reported: Consumers with lower credit scores use debit cards more intensively than those with higher credit scores. However, it is not clear whether credit scores have real effects on consumer payment choice or whether the negative relationship is caused by other factors, such as education or income. ; If credit scores have real effects, a negative relationship between debit card use and credit scores could imply supply-side effects, demand-side effects, or a combination of both. If credit scores ...