Research and reports

The 2017 Financial Literacy Annual Report is a statutorily mandated report to Congress on the Bureau’s activities and strategy to improve the financial capability and well-being of consumers. 

This issue brief explores the tradeoffs of borrowing a reverse mortgage loan in order to delay claiming Social Security. It shows that, in general, the reverse mortgage loan costs exceed the additional increase in Social Security that homeowners would receive in their lifetime by delaying Social Security benefits.

The CFPB has identified ten promising practices for tax assistance providers to help people save when filing their taxes.

Student loan debt is having an increasing impact on older Americans, according to CFPB research.

This report describes CFPB research on ways to help people make decisions for spending their retirement savings. The study explored ways to communicate retirement spending options, whether it is years before retirement or “just in time” when retirement is near.

The CFPB’s Office of Consumer Response hears directly from consumers about the challenges they face in the marketplace, brings their concerns to the attention of companies, and assists in addressing their complaints. This Monthly Complaint Report provides a high-level snapshot of trends in consumer complaints.

This technical report describes the development and scoring procedures of the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale. 

The number of consumers age 60 and older with student loan debt has quadrupled over the last decade in the United States, and the average amount they owe has also dramatically increased. This Snapshot describes the increasing burden of student loan debt on older consumers, as well as the impact that the increased debt burden is having on older borrowers’ impacting financial security.

The 2016 Financial Literacy Annual Report is a statutorily mandated report to Congress on the Bureau’s activities and strategy to improve the financial capability and well-being of consumers.

Hundreds of communities across the United States have created collaborative networks to protect their older residents.  This report highlights what elder financial exploitation prevention and response networks do, how they work, how they can work better, and how they can be established.