There is little evidence on how the large market for credit score improvement products affects consumers or credit … market efficiency. A randomized encouragement design on a standard credit builder loan (CBL) identifies null average effects … on whether consumers have a credit score and the score itself, with important heterogeneity: those with loans outstanding …

There is little evidence on how the large market for credit score improvement products affects consumers or credit … market efficiency. A randomized encouragement design on a standard credit builder loan (CBL) identifies null average effects … on whether consumers have a credit score and the score itself, with important heterogeneity: those with loans outstanding …

How does the large market for credit score improvement products affect consumers and market efficiency? For consumers …, we use a randomized encouragement design on a standard credit builder loan (CBL) and find null average effects on scores … credit activity. CBLs induce delinquency on pre-existing loan obligations, suggesting that even a seemingly modest additional …