IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/beexfi/v37y2023ics2214635022000971.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nudging credit union members to check their credit: Evidence from a field experiment

Author

Listed:
  • L’Esperance, Madelaine

Abstract

In this study, I explore whether emails that alert consumers to freely available credit score increase attention to personal financial accounts. A sample of credit union members are randomly assigned to receive an email message that highlights different motivations for viewing one’s score, including a simple reminder, social information, and monitoring for identity theft and errors. I find that message receipt does not increase attention to credit union accounts overall as measured by online account login activity. However, the messages are effective for subgroups of the sample. Examination of the daily log in data using panel data methods reveals timing of the treatment response. This study shows the potential for messaging interventions to increase attention to financial accounts and implications for policy.

Suggested Citation

  • L’Esperance, Madelaine, 2023. "Nudging credit union members to check their credit: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:37:y:2023:i:c:s2214635022000971
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2022.100775
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214635022000971
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbef.2022.100775?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaiser, Tim & Lusardi, Annamaria & Menkhoff, Lukas & Urban, Carly, 2022. "Financial education affects financial knowledge and downstream behaviors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 255-272.
    2. Sumit Agarwal & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Neale Mahoney & Johannes Stroebel, 2015. "Regulating Consumer Financial Products: Evidence from Credit Cards," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(1), pages 111-164.
    3. Leonardo Bursztyn & Stefano Fiorin & Daniel Gottlieb & Martin Kanz, 2019. "Moral Incentives in Credit Card Debt Repayment: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(4), pages 1641-1683.
    4. Steffen Altmann & Andreas Grunewald & Jonas Radbruch, 2022. "Interventions and Cognitive Spillovers," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(5), pages 2293-2328.
    5. Tatiana Homonoff & Rourke O'Brien & Abigail B. Sussman, 2021. "Does Knowing Your FICO Score Change Financial Behavior? Evidence from a Field Experiment with Student Loan Borrowers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(2), pages 236-250, May.
    6. Jones, Lauren E. & Loibl, Cäzilia & Tennyson, Sharon, 2015. "Effects of informational nudges on consumer debt repayment behaviors," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 16-33.
    7. Melody Harvey, 2019. "Impact of Financial Education Mandates on Younger Consumers' Use of Alternative Financial Services," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 731-769, September.
    8. Paolina C Medina, 2021. "Side Effects of Nudging: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in the Credit Card Market [Regulating consumer financial products: Evidence from credit cards]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(5), pages 2580-2607.
    9. Nachum Sicherman & George Loewenstein & Duane J. Seppi & Stephen P. Utkus, 2016. "Editor's Choice Financial Attention," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 863-897.
    10. Urban, Carly & Schmeiser, Maximilian & Collins, J. Michael & Brown, Alexandra, 2020. "The effects of high school personal financial education policies on financial behavior," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Campbell, Daniel & Grant, Andrew & Thorp, Susan, 2022. "Reducing credit card delinquency using repayment reminders," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    2. Barboni, Giorgia & Cardenas, Juan Camilo & de Roux, Nicolas, 2022. "Behavioral Messages and Debt Repayment," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 633, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    3. Corsini, Lorenzo & Giannelli, Gianna Claudia, 2021. "Economics education and financial literacy acquisition: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    4. Luedtke, Allison Oldham & Urban, Carly, 2021. "Do High Schools Choose Financial Education Policies Based on Their Neighbors?," IZA Discussion Papers 14288, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Jason Allen & Michael Boutros & Benedict Guttman-Kenney, 2024. "Credit Card Minimum Payment Restrictions," Staff Working Papers 24-26, Bank of Canada.
    6. Jetter, Michael & Walker, Jay K., 2017. "Anchoring in financial decision-making: Evidence from Jeopardy!," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 164-176.
    7. Lusardi, Annamaria & Kaiser, Tim, 2024. "Financial literacy and financial education: An overview," CEPR Discussion Papers 19185, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Suting Hong & Robert M. Hunt & Konstantinos Serfes, 2023. "Dynamic Pricing of Credit Cards and the Effects of Regulation," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 81-131, August.
    9. Man Yao & Tori I. Rehr & Erica P. Regan, 2023. "Gender Differences in Financial Knowledge among College Students: Evidence from a Recent Multi-institutional Survey," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 693-713, September.
    10. Kaiser, Tim & Lusardi, Annamaria & Menkhoff, Lukas & Urban, Carly, 2022. "Financial education affects financial knowledge and downstream behaviors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 255-272.
    11. Kaiser, Tim & Oberrauch, Luis, 2021. "Economic education at the expense of indoctrination? Evidence from Germany," EconStor Preprints 245801, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Bruce Carlin & Arna Olafsson & Michaela Pagel, 2023. "Mobile Apps and Financial Decision Making," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 977-996.
    13. Lunn, Pete & McGowan, Féidhlim & Howard, Noel, 2018. "Do some financial product features negatively affect consumer decisions? a review of evidence," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS78.
    14. Donghoon Lee & Daniel Mangrum & Wilbert Van der Klaauw & Crystal Wang, 2024. "Financial Education and Household Financial Decisions During the Pandemic," Staff Reports 1131, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    15. Marco Angrisani & Sergio Barrera & Luisa R. Blanco & Salvador Contreras, 2021. "The racial/ethnic gap in financial literacy in the population and by income," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 524-536, July.
    16. Jetter, Michael & Walker, Jay K., 2016. "Anchoring in Financial Decision-Making: Evidence from the Field," IZA Discussion Papers 10151, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. McHugh, Sandie & Ranyard, Rob, 2016. "Consumers’ credit card repayment decisions: The role of higher anchors and future repayment concern," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 102-114.
    18. Urban, Carly, 2022. "Does State-Mandated Financial Education Reduce High School Graduation Rates?," IZA Discussion Papers 15402, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Hendy, Patrick & Slonim, Robert & Atalay, Kadir, 2021. "Unsticking credit card repayments from the minimum: Advice, anchors and financial incentives," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    20. Laudenbach, Christine & Siegel, Stephan, 2024. "Personal communication in an automated world: Evidence from loan repayments," SAFE Working Paper Series 428, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Personal finance; Consumer attention; Nudge; Credit union;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:37:y:2023:i:c:s2214635022000971. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-behavioral-and-experimental-finance .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.