Gender Differences in Credit Card Limits: Evidence from Sole Mortgage Applicants

A previous version of this working paper was originally published in December 2023, which superseded Working Paper 21-35 – Decomposing Gender Differences in Bankcard Credit Limits

We estimate that male borrowers have approximately $1,300 higher total credit card limits than female borrowers. This gap is primarily driven by a large gender gap in the right tail of the limit distribution. At the median and in the left tail of the total limit distribution, women’s limits are approximately $100 to $300 higher than men’s. Results from a Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition show that 87 percent of the gap is explained by differences in the effect of observed characteristics, while 10 percent of the difference is explained by differences in the levels of observed characteristics. The gap is persistent across geographies but has varied over time. Overall, these gender gaps are small in economic magnitude and have changed over time favoring women.