We study how consumers allocate debt across credit cards they already hold using new data on credit card activity for a representative sample of consumers with two homogeneous cards in Mexico. We find that relative prices are a very weak predictor of the allocation of debt, purchases, and...

We study recent technological innovation in credit markets and document their role in providing information to households. We show that households value the ability to learn detailed information about their cost of credit. This function is most valued by less creditworthy households with less...

We explore the effects of round number preferences in credit card payments. Payments at round numbers are very common: 70% of manual non-full credit card payments are at round numbers. Using minimum payment amounts as a natural experiment for the lower bound on payments, we show stickiness in...

Debit cards are overtaking credit cards as the most prevalent form of electronic payment at the point of sale, yet the determinants of a ubiquitous consumer choice - "debit or credit?" - have received relatively little scrutiny. Several stylized facts suggest that debit-card use is driven by...

Banks impose a variety of account fees, and credit card issuers impose a variety of fees related to card usage. Using detailed data from a 2021 representative diary survey of US consumers, we investigate whether lower-income consumers and Black consumers are more likely to pay bank account or...

We survey individuals on their credit card usage. Contrary to popular press, most credit card holders use credit cards in a responsible manner. They tend to use credit cards for transaction convenience and pay little interest costs. Only a minor subset of people uses credit cards to access...

This study proposes a new “two-factor” risk preference metric and assesses its effectiveness in predicting financial satisfaction under two risk domains: investment market risk and credit card risk. The factors in our two-factor assessment are risk tolerance and financial self-efficacy...

A timely reminder on an app or website prompts delinquent credit card debtors with strong credit records to repay but is ineffective for debtors with weak credit records. We study field data from a 2015-16 randomized controlled trial of a broadcast reminder received by 30-days-overdue credit...

Some individuals borrow extensively on their credit cards. This paper tests whether present-biased time preferences correlate with credit card borrowing. In a field study, we elicit individual time preferences with incentivized choice experiments, and match resulting time preference measures to...

Some individuals borrow extensively on their credit cards. This paper tests whether present-biased time preferences correlate with credit card borrowing. In a field study, we elicit individual time preferences with incentivized choice experiments, and match resulting time preference measures to...