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.
Report
Summary of the Workshop on Credit Card Lending and Payments
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Supervisory Research Forum (SURF) and Consumer Finance Institute (CFI) held the virtual Workshop on Credit Card Lending and Payments on September 16‒17, 2020.
Consumer Finance
What is the Consumer Finance Institute?
We study credit and payment markets to understand how they affect consumers and the economy.
Working Paper
“Sort Selling”: Political Polarization and Residential Choice
WP 21-14 – Partisanship and political polarization are salient features of today’s society. We merge deeds records with voter rolls and show that political polarization is more than just “political cheerleading.”
Report
Recent Data on Mortgage Forbearance: Borrower Uptake and Understanding of Lender Accommodations
This research brief examines data relating to mortgage forbearance using responses to the January 2021 COVID-19 Survey of Consumers conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Finance Institute.
Working Paper
Inequality in the Time of COVID-19: Evidence from Mortgage Delinquency and Forbearance
WP 21-09 – Using a novel database that combines mortgage servicing records, credit-bureau data, and loan application information, we show that lower-income and minority borrowers have significantly higher nonpayment rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, even after controlling for conventional risk factors.
Working Paper
Does CFPB Oversight Crimp Credit?
WP 21-08 - We study how regulatory oversight by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) affects mortgage credit supply and other aspects of bank behavior.
COVID-19
COVID-19 and the Philadelphia Fed
Get the Philadelphia Fed’s latest information, resources, and research on the coronavirus pandemic's impact on businesses, households, and communities.
Consumer Finance
Consumer Finance Institute Visiting Scholars
We regularly invite outside experts in consumer finance and payments to conduct independent research, collaborate with our staff economists and analysts, and participate in our events.
Report
CFI COVID-19 Survey of Consumers – Wave 7
This report shares results from Wave 7 of a national survey of consumers investigating the effects of COVID-19 on renters and mortgage holders, with updates to previous data on job and income loss and financial security.