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.

A woman talks across a desk to a couple.

Do Mortgage Borrowing Experiences Differ by Race and Ethnicity? Evidence from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations

In this CFI Special Report, we assess whether mortgage borrowing experiences vary by race and ethnicity.

Labor, Income, Finances, and Expectations (LIFE) Survey

The Labor, Income, Finances, and Expectations (LIFE) Survey collects data on topics related to the Consumer Finance Institute’s mission to better understand how people earn, spend, save, and invest, as well as how credit markets and payment systems affect the economy.

Event

Oct

24-25

2024

Workshop on Changing Demographics and Housing Demand

Fannie Mae Midtown Center, 1100 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 (Hybrid)

A computerized graph with lines and data.

Consumer Credit

Working Paper

Who Provides Credit in Times of Crisis? Evidence from the Auto Loan Market

WP 25-06 – We examine the contribution of different lending channels to the auto loan market in times of crisis. Specifically, we explore lending from traditional banks, credit unions, and finance companies (nonbanks) over the past two decades, with an emphasis on the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keys, a figurine of a house, a pen, and a calculator sit atop a mortgage document.

Mortgage Markets

Working Paper

Measuring Fairness in the U.S. Mortgage Market

WP 25-04 – How fair or unfair is the U.S. mortgage market? We show that the answer crucially depends on one's definition of fairness. By contrasting six competing definitions, we offer a comprehensive view of fairness in this market.

Three people review a document on a laptop.

Mortgage Markets

Working Paper

Constructing Applicants from Loan-Level Data: A Case Study of Mortgage Applications

WP 25-05 – We develop an algorithm to detect loan applicants who submit multiple applications in a loan-level dataset. We estimate that in our data our method identifies applicants that submit multiple mortgage applications with 93 percent precision.

Storefronts along a main street.

Consumer Finance

Working Paper

How Wealth and Age Interact to Affect Entrepreneurship

WP 25-03 – Using wealth windfalls from lottery winnings and matched employer-employee tax files, we compare the effect of additional wealth on the entrepreneurial activity of older and younger individuals.