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Report
Consumers and Mobile Financial Services 2013
Mobile devices have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. In December 2011, the Federal Reserve Board conducted its first survey of consumers’ use of mobile financial services, and released a summary report in March 2012 (referred to as the 2011 survey). Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Board conducted a second survey in late November 2012 to examine trends in adoption and use of mobile banking and payments (referred to as the 2012 survey). This report presents findings from the 2012 online survey, ...
Working Paper
State Mandated Financial Education and the Credit Behavior of Young Adults
In the U.S., a number of states have mandated personal finance classes in public school curricula to address perceived deficiencies in financial decision-making competency. Despite the growth of financial and economic education provided in public schools, little is known about the effect of these programs on the credit behaviors of young adults. Using a panel of credit report data, we examine young adults in three states where personal financial education mandates were implemented in 2007: Georgia, Idaho, and Texas. We compare the credit scores and delinquency rates of young adults in each of ...
Working Paper
Does Salient Financial Information Affect Academic Performance and Borrowing Behavior among College Students?
While rising student loan debt can plague college students future finances, few federal programs have been instituted to educate college students on the mechanics of student loan borrowing. This paper exploits a natural experiment in which some students received "Know Your Debt" letters with incentivized offers for one-on-one financial counseling. Montana State University students who reached a specific debt threshold received these letters; University of Montana students did not. We use a difference-in-difference-in-differences strategy to compare students above and below the thresholds ...
Journal Article
Use of financial services by the unbanked and underbanked and the potential for mobile financial services adoption
The increased use of mobile devices coupled with the evolution of technologies that enable consumers to conduct financial transactions using mobile phones has the potential to change how consumers manage their finances. Innovations in financial service technologies may also help foster access and inclusion in the mainstream financial system for unbanked or underbanked consumers. Using data collected through the Board?s Survey of Consumers and Mobile Financial Services, this article examines the characteristics of unbanked and underbanked consumers, their current use of mobile financial ...
Working Paper
The effects of female labor force participation on obesity
This paper assesses whether a causal relationship exists between recent increases in female labor force participation and the increased prevalence of obesity amongst women. The expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the 1980s and 1990s have been established by prior literature as having generated variation in female labor supply, particularly amongst single mothers. Here, we use this plausibly exogenous variation in female labor supply to identify the effect of labor force participation on obesity status. We use data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and replicate ...
Report
Consumers and Mobile Finance Services 2013
Mobile devices have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. In December 2011, the Federal Reserve Board conducted its first survey of consumers’ use of mobile financial services, and released a summary report in March 2012 (referred to as the 2011 survey). Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Board conducted a second survey in late November 2012 to examine trends in adoption and use of mobile banking and payments (referred to as the 2012 survey). This report presents findings from the 2012 online survey, ...
Report
Consumers and Mobile Finance Services 2014
Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting annual surveys of consumers’ use of mobile financial services in 2011. The survey examines trends in adoption and use of mobile banking and payments, and how the emergence of mobile financial services affects how consumers interact with financial institutions. This report presents findings from the 2013 survey, which examined consumers’ use of mobile technology to ...
Report
Consumers and Mobile Finance Services 2012
Mobile devices have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. This report presents findings from an online survey, conducted in December 2011 and January 2012, examining the use of mobile technology to access financial services and make financial decisions.
Discussion Paper
Should You Trust Things You Hear Online? Comparing SHED and Census Bureau Survey Results
In the fall of 2013, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), which is an annual survey of individual consumers designed to monitor their well-being and identify risks to their financial stability.
Working Paper
The Determinants of Subprime Mortgage Performance Following a Loan Modification
We examine the evolution of mortgage modification terms obtained by distressed subprime borrowers during the recent housing crisis, and the effect of the various types of modifications on the subsequent loan performance. Using the CoreLogic LoanPerformance dataset that contains detailed loan level information on mortgages, modification terms, second liens, and home values, we estimate a discrete time proportional hazard model with competing risks to examine the determinants of post-modification mortgage outcomes. We find that principal reductions are particularly effective at improving loan ...