Search Results
Discussion Paper
How Prevalent Were Racially Restrictive Covenants in 20th Century Philadelphia? A New Spatial Data Set Provides Answers
One of the tools used by early 20th century developers, builders, and white homeowners to prevent African Americans from accessing parts of the residential real estate market was the racially restrictive covenant. In this paper, we present a newly constructed spatial data set of properties in the city of Philadelphia with deeds that contained a racially restrictive covenant at any time from 1920 to 1932. To date, we have reviewed hundreds of thousands of property deeds and identified nearly 4,000 instances in which a racial covenant had been included in the deed. The covenanted properties ...
Report
Overdraft Use During the Pandemic: Insights from the CFI COVID-19 Survey of Consumers
This research brief examines consumers’ use of checking account overdrafts since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, using responses gathered from a special module in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Finance Institute COVID-19 Survey of Consumers conducted between July 5 and 16, 2021. The overdraft module includes responses from a national sample of 3,615 consumers, 1,054 of whom reported experiencing at least one overdraft charge during the crisis. Respondents provided their demographic and employment characteristics as part of the broader survey. Survey participants ...
Discussion Paper
Can Data Sharing Help Financial Institutions Improve the Financial Health of Older Americans?
This paper explores how increased data sharing among financial institutions could improve the financial outcomes of older adults suffering from cognitive impairment. Among the first signs of cognitive impairment in older adults is a decline in financial capacity, which is also a risk factor for abuse or exploitation. Banks and other financial institutions are at the front lines to monitor and detect changes in financial capacity and susceptibility to fraud and abuse. However, industry experts have found that, in many cases, no mechanism exists for financial service providers to communicate ...
Discussion Paper
Combining Forces to Combat Elder Financial Victimization How Consumers Can Avoid the Financial Pitfalls of Cognitive Aging and What They Should Be Asking Their Financial Institutions
Medical research has linked financial vulnerability to accelerated cognitive aging ? the process by which cognitive abilities decline with age. Consumers who understand the risks of cognitive aging and what their financial institutions are doing to detect and deter financial crimes are better positioned to safeguard their retirement savings. In this paper, we examine how consumers and financial institutions can prepare for the financial pitfalls of aging. We present seven important steps that consumers aged 50 or older can take to protect themselves. We also provide consumers with a list of ...
Report
How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected the Supply of Consumer Credit?
For credit card companies and other lenders, the pandemic has created a variety of risks and challenges. This report examines how credit card lenders have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working Paper
Foreclosure Kids: Examining the Early Adult Credit Usage of Adolescents Affected by Foreclosure
We investigate the long-term effects of foreclosure-induced relocations on adolescents and their subsequent use of credit. We ask whether individuals who experience a foreclosure-induced move between the ages of 10 and 17 are more likely to exhibit signs of credit scarring later in life. To establish a set of counterfactual outcomes, we implement propensity score matching with exact matching on certain characteristics and regression adjustment of the remaining covariate imbalances. We then compare the credit behavior of individuals who experienced a foreclosure-induced move in adolescence to ...
Discussion Paper
Deconstructing Mechanic’s Liens
In this paper, we examine a new data set composed of mechanic’s lien complaints filed in the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County). Over a 10-year period, 426 mechanic’s liens were filed against 398 single-family properties, which is less than 0.1 percent of single-family properties in Philadelphia. The lien properties in our data set tend to be more expensive, newer, and larger than non-lien properties. About 80 percent of mechanic’s liens are filed by general contractors, with the remainder pursued by a subcontractor. Notably, a 2014 change in Pennsylvania law ...
Report
Secured Card Market Update
For more than 40 years, secured credit cards have enabled borrowers with limited or damaged credit histories to obtain credit, often with many of the benefits of traditional, unsecured credit cards. Despite the recent development of alternative credit-building products, the secured card has not been left behind and, in fact, continues to be a focal point of fintech innovation and new product offerings. In this special report, we update previous research by the Consumer Finance Institute on secured cards using data from the country’s largest financial institutions. As of September 2023, ...
Report
Aging, Cognition, and Financial Health: Building a Robust System for Older Americans
This paper summarizes a November 2017 conference cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia?s Consumer Finance Institute and the University of Pennsylvania?s Penn Memory Center and Healthy Brain Research Center. As cognitive abilities decline, older adults may make poor financial judgments and become vulnerable to exploitation and fraud. The potential damage to individual finances as well as to the nation?s financial system will increase as the baby boom generation ages into retirement. The goal of the conference was to discuss actions that members of the financial services ...