Much has been written about the problem of consumer credit in the United States over the past decade. In this paper, we survey the prevailing economic theories of consumer credit, which identify a common root problem. Namely, consumers can potentially underestimate borrowing costs, and lenders...

Despite the centrality of credit and debt in the financial lives of Americans, little is known about how U.S. consumers' access and utilization of credit changes in the short and long term, and how these changes are related to changes in U.S. consumers' debt. This paper uses data from the...

Based on a unique dataset provided by a retail bank, we analyze borrower heterogeneity in the debt response to interest rate decreases and credit limit increases in revolving consumer credit. Our key findings show that 1) the debt response of borrowers who commit to monthly minimum repayments is...

In this paper we provide what we believe to be the first evidence on the nature of gross debt flows across consumers. We find that the aggregate dynamics in the consumer debt market are largely explained by the behavior of consumers with mortgage debt, and the behavior of such consumers is found...

We apply machine-learning techniques to construct nonlinear nonparametric forecasting models of consumer credit risk. By combining customer transactions and credit bureau data from January 2005 to April 2009 for a sample of a major commercial bank's customers, we are able to construct...

This paper proposes a model in which the borrower credit risk is associated with the cash flow method to assess the economic value of a consumer credit portfolio. A Monte Carlo simulation applying the method in an illustrative loan reveals that the lending standards of the institution, captured...

This paper proposes a model that associates borrower credit risk with the cash flow method to assess the economic value of a consumer credit portfolio. A Monte Carlo simulation applying the method to an illustrative loan reveals that the lending standards of the institution, captured in the...

This chapter provides new evidence on borrowers' hidden information about their riskiness and its link to their impatience. To do so, I analyze consumer loans on the German platform Smava, which has a unique peer-to-peer lending process. Observationally identical but unobservably riskier...

Marketplace lending relies on screening and information production by investors, a major deviation from the traditional banking paradigm. Theoretically, the participation of sophisticated investors improves screening outcomes but also creates adverse selection among investors. In maximizing loan...

Policies to correct market power and selection can be misguided when these forces co-exist. We build a model of symmetric imperfect competition in selection markets that parameterizes the degree of market power and selection. We use graphical price-theoretic reasoning to characterize the...