Blog

Among 15-year-olds in the United States, a gap in financial literacy appears, connected with socioeconomic status. We explore potential ways to help close the gap through a deeper analysis in the linked financial literacy brief.

The report describes bankruptcy trends in the years including the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) and the Great Recession.

A joint study with Credit Karma explores the relationship between subjective Financial Well-Being (FWB) and objective credit characteristics and engagement with financial education tools. The report identifies credit report and engagement variables that are significantly related to a consumer’s FWB score, including credit score, credit limit, credit utilization, and the use of a credit simulator tool.

The analysis shows that about two thirds of actively used credit card accounts carry a revolving balance. Once consumers begin to revolve, they do so continuously for about 10 months on average, with approximately 15 percent revolving continuously for two years or more. The longer a balance is revolved, the higher the chances that the consumer will continue to revolve a balance.

The ability of consumers to access various types of credit can be affected by their credit scores, as many lenders require a minimum credit score before credit will be extended. This report finds that consumers with lower credit scores are more likely to apply for credit around peaks and troughs in their scores.

New report from the Department of Defense highlights the financial well-being of servicemembers.

Building upon the work of the Bureau’s child savings account initiative, the goal of these briefs is to identify, document, and advance promising and proven practices that can increase child savings opportunities for more families with low incomes and low wealth, and that can be taken to scale.

The CFPB released a review of existing youth financial education research, a set of research priorities, and a call for proposals to fill research gaps.

New research brief from the Office of Servicemember Affairs on the financial well-being of veterans.

This report explores how servicemember home loan choices have changed from 2006 to 2016.

The Office of Servicemember Affairs annual report highlights complaints from servicemembers as well as emerging issues and continuing trends facing servicemembers in the financial marketplace.

The CFPB has released two reports assessing significant CFPB rules: The first assesses the effectiveness of our Ability to Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rule. The second assesses the effectiveness of the Mortgage Servicing Rule we issued under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).

Recent natural disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017, have significantly impacted some consumers financially. In this report, the Bureau examines how natural disasters are reported in consumers’ credit reports.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection released the findings of its assessment of the Remittance Rule, which provides protections to international money transfers. The report describes the Rule, the market, and the Bureau’s findings on the Rule’s effectiveness in meeting factors outlined in the Dodd-Frank Act.

BCFP released a new research report on the geographic patterns of credit invisibility. Consumers who are “credit invisible” have no credit histories. This is the third in a series of Bureau studies on consumers with limited credit histories.

Consumers typically pay for telecommunications services monthly, but most providers do not report to consumer reporting agencies unless an account is in collections. In this report, we explore how these debts are reported.

Data Point research report on final student loan payments, mortgage and credit card borrowing, and household balance sheets.

This report finds that aggregate end-of-year consumer credit card borrowing roughly follows end-of-year retail expenditure patterns.

This report explores how the removal of public records resulting from the National Consumer Assistance Plan (NCAP) affected credit reports and credit scores.

How much money you spend, save, and owe is only part of the whole story about your financial situation. Your financial well-being score can get you thinking about your financial outlook in a new way.

A new CFPB report shows that at-risk student loan borrowers are struggling with repaying their debts and are seeing their credit suffer.

Financial coaching can help consumers achieve their financial goals. It's a strategy that financial educators can implement with the people they serve. Read...

We are seeking your research on consumer finance for our conference this December. Submit your completed papers or detailed abstracts by August 26.

We recently studied how auto title loans affect consumers. Read our blog to find out what we learned.

We recently released a study about payments for online payday loans and other high-cost online loans and their effects on consumers. We found that online...