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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 ...
Journal Article
Financially Distressed Consumers May Have Turned to High-Cost Credit to Cope with Inflation
Many U.S. consumers, especially those who are financially distressed, have used various strategies to cope with rising prices last year. Notably, financially distressed consumers were substantially more likely to have taken on additional debt to manage the financial strain of inflation; furthermore, they often borrowed at higher costs. Higher inflation rates and cuts in federal financial aid this year may compel even more financially distressed consumers to rely on high-cost credit.
Journal Article
Pandemic Relief Has Aided Low-Income Individuals: Evidence from Alternative Financial Services
Although low-income individuals are more likely to have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic relief efforts may have helped prevent them from experiencing increased financial distress. Consumer interest in payday loans, title loans, and pawn loans have all declined since the onset of the pandemic, suggesting low-income individuals have been able to access credit and meet basic financial needs without the use of these alternative financial services.
Journal Article
Building Credit with Rent Data: The Potential Effects of Rent Reporting on the Credit Scores of U.S. Renters
Including rent payments in credit scoring could affect the credit scores of a sizeable share of U.S. renters.
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 ...
Journal Article
Prepaid Cards: An Inadequate Solution for Digital Payments Inclusion
Although prepaid cards have the potential to address digital payments exclusion, their use among unbanked households remains low.
Journal Article
Addressing Traditional Credit Scores as a Barrier to Accessing Affordable Credit
Affordable credit enables consumers to better manage their finances, cope with unexpected emergencies, and pursue opportunities such as entrepreneurship or higher education. However, many consumers face difficulties obtaining the credit they need. A major impediment is lenders’ reliance on traditional credit scores to assess consumers’ creditworthiness. These credit scores affect not only loan approval decisions but also the interest rates consumers pay on their loans. While credit scores are intended to help lenders make informed decisions about consumers’ risk of default, they do not ...
Briefing
Has Access to Bank On-Certified Accounts Helped Ease Financial Barriers to Bank Account Ownership?
The share of unbanked households has declined considerably in the United States over the last decade. By introducing a set of national standards for safe, low-cost bank accounts, the Bank On initiative appears to have helped address a key barrier to bank account ownership: the inability to meet the minimum balance required to waive monthly fees.
Briefing
Contact and Payment Methods Used for the Top Five Categories of Scams
In recent years, the amount of money U.S. consumers have lost to scams has increased sharply. The contact methods scammers use to reach consumers and the payment methods defrauded consumers use to pay scammers vary depending on the category of scam. However, both the use of social media as a contact method and the use of cryptocurrency, payment apps, and bank transfers as payment methods have increased across the top five scam categories.
Briefing
How Do Consumers’ Fraud Experiences Vary with Their Financial Vulnerability?
A sizeable share of U.S. consumers has been exposed to financial fraud. According to the 2024 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), in 2023, 21 percent of U.S. consumers experienced financial fraud involving their credit cards, bank accounts, or other financial products. Fraud victims often lose money in a fraud incident and may not fully recover the money later, ultimately sustaining fraud losses. The adverse financial effects of fraud are likely to be most pronounced for financially constrained consumers, as these consumers tend to have little financial cushion to absorb ...