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 forest fire burns just beyond a neighborhood.

Mortgage Markets

Working Paper

California Wildfires, Property Damage, and Mortgage Repayment

WP 23-05 – This paper examines wildfires’ impact on mortgage repayment using novel data that combines property-level damages and mortgage performance data.

CFI COVID-19 Survey of Consumers

To gain insights into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial security in the U.S., the Consumer Finance Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia conducted a series of national surveys of consumers beginning in April 2020 and concluding in April 2022.

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Consumer Credit

Working Paper

Not Cashing In on Cashing Out: An Analysis of Low Cash-Out Refinance Rates

WP 23-04 – More than half of borrowers who have both home equity and high-interest loans fail to reduce their overall debt burden by folding this high-interest debt into a lower-interest mortgage when they undertake a mortgage refinance.

Mortgage Markets

Working Paper

The Age Gap in Mortgage Access

WP 23-03 – This paper uses data on millions of single-borrower mortgage applications to study the relationship between applicant age and mortgage application outcomes.

Event

Oct

19-20

2023

New Perspectives on Consumer Behavior in Credit and Payments Markets: Call for Papers

Paper Submission Deadline: June 15, 2023

Examining Resolution of Mortgage Forbearances and Delinquencies – First Quarter 2023

New in 2023 — “Lessons Learned from the CARES Act Mortgage Forbearance Program and Its Aftermath”

Consumer Credit

Working Paper

Missouri’s Medicaid Contraction and Consumer Financial Outcomes

WP 20-42/R – In July 2005, the state of Missouri implemented a series of cuts to its Medicaid program. These cuts resulted in the elimination of the Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities program, more stringent eligibility requirements, and less generous Medicaid coverage for eligible individuals.

Consumer Credit

Conference Summary

Summary of the Fourth Workshop on Payments, Lending, and Innovations in Consumer Finance

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Finance Institute (CFI) and Supervisory Research Forum (SURF) held the Fourth Workshop on Payments, Lending, and Innovations in Consumer Finance on October 26‒27, 2022.