Research and reports

Over 1.2 million adults ages 60 and older lost a spouse in 2019. This spotlight describes the characteristics and financial circumstances of older surviving spouses.

This data spotlight examines the characteristics and experiences of the 3.2 million older adults living in mobile homes in 2022.

In 2018, 4.5 million adults ages 65 and older had medical debt, and many experienced significant hardships. This data spotlight describes the characteristics of older adults with medical debt, measured as having a past due medical bill, using the most recent data from the FINRA Foundation National Financial Capability Study (NFCS).

The 2021 Financial Literacy Annual Report details the CFPB’s financial literacy strategy and activities to improve the financial literacy of consumers. Overall, this report describes the CFPB’s efforts in a broad range of financial literacy areas relevant to consumers’ financial lives.

The 2020 Financial Literacy Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau details the Bureau’s financial literacy activities and strategy to improve the financial literacy of consumers. Overall, this report describes the Bureau’s efforts in a broad range of financial literacy areas relevant to consumers’ financial lives.

This study examines whether people who retired between 1992 and 2014 were able to maintain the same spending level for five consecutive years after retiring.

The 2019 Financial Literacy Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau details the Bureau's financial literacy activities and strategy to improve the financial literacy of consumers. Overall, this report describes the Bureau's efforts in a broad range of financial literacy areas relevant to consumers' financial lives.

This report provides the first state-by-state description of the financial well-being of adults in the United States, as measured by the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale.  

This Advisory Update focuses on financial institution reporting of elder financial exploitation to federal, state and local first responders.

This report describes the outcomes of the Bureau-initiated community convenings in Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Montana, and Oregon. The purpose of the report is to share the learnings and achievements from the convenings to encourage the establishment of new or enhance existing networks and help communities improve coordination and collaboration between responders and service providers. 

This report identifies key patterns revealed in Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) on elder financial exploitation filed by financial institutions with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from 2013 to 2017.

This report explores the factors that are associated with the financial well-being of older Americans. It relies on data from the National Financial Well-Being Survey to examine the distribution of financial well-being scores for adults ages 62 and older in the United States.

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.

Banks and credit unions are uniquely positioned to detect elder financial exploitation and to take action. This advisory and report include best practices identified by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help banks and credit unions protect older account holders.

Ads for reverse mortgages are found on television, radio, in print, and on the internet, and many ads feature celebrity spokespeople discussing the benefits of reverse mortgages without mentioning risks.