Skip to main content

Blog

Date range
Clear filters
17 filtered results
Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Office of Research blog: Who gets sued in civil courts? Civil judgments are not evenly distributed

Creditors can obtain civil judgments to seize assets and garnish wages for unpaid debts. New research show that civil judgments are 20 times more common in some states than others and are more common in areas with a higher percentage of Black residents. Civil judgments are twice as common as bankruptcies.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Office of Research blog: Credit score transitions during the COVID-19 pandemic

The distribution of credit score tiers shifted upward during the pandemic. Individuals in all credit score tiers were more likely to move up at least one tier or remain in their own tier during the pandemic, but upward mobility was especially improved for consumers with subprime credit scores.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Office of Research Blog: Even as rents increase, fewer people are buying

The past two years of high inflation have been difficult for renters. A substantial percentage of renters missed rent payments, and relatively few renters who missed payments found assistance. Additionally, we show that the transition to homeownership has slowed markedly in the past year. Notably, Black and Hispanic families were less likely than non-Hispanic white families to get a mortgage when interest rates were low.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Office of Research blog: Higher interest rates leading to higher debt burdens for mortgage borrowers

Mortgage interest rates have been rising sharply in recent months, impacting mortgage borrowers and applicants. Using quarterly HMDA data on closed-end home-purchase loans, we find that monthly payments and debt burdens (as measured by DTI) have increased, with a higher percentage of mortgage application denials reporting DTI as a reason for not qualifying.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Office of Research blog: Update on student loan borrowers during payment suspension

Delinquencies on non-student-loan credit products continue to rise for student loan borrowers. This rise could signal payment difficulties when scheduled payments resume, but potential debt cancellation may reduce the number of borrowers at-risk.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Exploring the connection between financial assistance for medical care and medical collections

Consumers, including those with insurance, incur significant charges related to medical care. Nonprofit healthcare providers are required to establish financial assistance policies for consumers who cannot afford services. In this blog, we explore the connection between eligibility for these financial assistance programs and the prevalence of medical collections using our Making Ends Meet Survey.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Credit access declined during the pandemic for credit cards, but increased for mortgages and auto loans

This post is the fifth in a series documenting trends in consumer credit outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Access to new credit cards has decreased, but access to mortgages and auto loans has increased since the start of the pandemic.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Credit card limits are rising for most groups after stagnating during the pandemic

This post is the fourth in a series documenting trends in consumer credit outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit card limits stagnated or declined for most credit score groups early in the pandemic, but have been rising in recent months. Despite a spike in accounts closed by creditors at the start of the pandemic, accounts are not being closed at unusual rates.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Credit card use is still declining compared to pre-pandemic levels

This post is the third in a series documenting trends in consumer credit outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic disruption of the pandemic does not appear to have caused consumers to run up large credit card balances. The opposite seems to be the case, since April 2020, credit card balances and utilization rates have continued to decline, and the share of credit card borrowers that carry a balance rather than pay in full have also declined.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Trends in Reported Assistance on Consumers’ Credit Records

This post is the second in a series documenting trends in consumer credit outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since July 2020, consumers have transitioned out of assistance to varying degrees across all credit products, but a significant share of mortgage borrowers continue to receive assistance.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Delinquencies on credit accounts continue to be low despite the pandemic

New Bureau research examines consumer credit trends through April 2021, finding little increase in delinquencies on credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, and student loans during COVID-19. Delinquency rates also remain lower than pre-pandemic levels, likely as a result of public and private interventions.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Credit applications remain depressed for credit cards and auto loans

In this update to our May 2020 report examining the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on credit applications, we find that credit card inquiries were still 30 percent below their pre-pandemic levels in September, while auto loans were depressed by 20 percent.

Category: Data, research, and reports |
Published

Credit card debt fell even for consumers who were having financial difficulties before the pandemic

We use the Bureau’s Making Ends Meet survey to study whether financially vulnerable consumers have turned to credit card debt during the coronavirus pandemic. We find that credit card debt fell even for consumers who were financially vulnerable before the pandemic.