Consumer Finance
Our Consumer Finance Institute researches how people earn, spend, save, and invest, as well as how credit markets and payment systems affect the economy. Our goal is to foster a healthy consumer sector, a stable financial system, and a resilient regional and national economy.
Brief
Vehicle Purchase Intentions and Perceptions of Ownership Costs: Insights from the April 2026 LIFE Survey
This report uses the Philadelphia Fed’s Labor, Income, Finances, and Expectations (LIFE) Survey, fielded in April 2026, to assess the financial burden of vehicle ownership costs and households’ near-term intentions to purchase a vehicle.
Brief
Recent Trends in Renter Financial Security and Homebuying Intentions
This report uses the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Labor, Income, Finances, and Expectations (LIFE) Survey to study the recent experiences of renters.
Working Paper
Interchange Fees in Payment Networks: Implications for Prices, Profits, and Welfare
WP 26-29 – This paper examines the level of a wholesale price — the interchange fee — typically set by a payment card network that influences the distribution of acceptance costs and benefits incurred or received by merchants and consumers. It offers new theoretical insights into price regulation in payments.
Report
LIFE Survey Data Report – April 2026
This report is part of a quarterly series on key observations from the Labor, Income, Finances, and Expectations (LIFE) Survey. Data from the survey provide insight into consumers’ recent financial lives and their future expectations.
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Lender File
31 Jul ’25
The HMDA Lender File includes characteristics of firms receiving mortgage applications and originating loans. The data set enables users to connect HMDA filers to their parent organizations and compare a filer’s lending over time.
Brief
Is Household Financial Health Improving?
In this CFI Research Brief, we use anonymized credit report data on consumer delinquency to assess the recent trajectory of households' financial health.