IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bca/bocawp/25-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

High-Cost Consumer Credit: Desperation, Temptation and Default

Author

Listed:
  • Joaquín Saldain

Abstract

I study the welfare consequences of regulations on high-cost consumer credit in the United States. I estimate a heterogeneous-agents model with uninsurable idiosyncratic risk, risk-based pricing of loans, and preference heterogeneity including households with self-control issues. I find that one-third of high-cost borrowers suffer from self-control issues. Noncontingent regulatory borrowing limits have distributional consequences within households with self-control issues. High-income households benefit from restrictions on borrowing because they face loose price schedules from lenders that allow them to overborrow. Low-income households face tight individually targeted loan price schedules that limit households’ borrowing capacity so that borrowing restrictions cannot improve welfare over them.

Suggested Citation

  • Joaquín Saldain, 2025. "High-Cost Consumer Credit: Desperation, Temptation and Default," Staff Working Papers 25-6, Bank of Canada.
    • Handle: RePEc:bca:bocawp:25-6
    DOI: 10.34989/swp-2025-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.34989/swp-2025-6
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.34989/swp-2025-6?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. Igor Livshits & James MacGee & Michèle Tertilt, 2007. "Consumer Bankruptcy: A Fresh Start," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 402-418, March.
    2. Morse, Adair, 2011. "Payday lenders: Heroes or villains?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 28-44, October.
    3. Brian T. Melzer, 2011. "The Real Costs of Credit Access: Evidence from the Payday Lending Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 517-555.
    4. Bhutta, Neil, 2014. "Payday loans and consumer financial health," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 230-242.
    5. Satyajit Chatterjee & Dean Corbae & Makoto Nakajima & José-Víctor Ríos-Rull, 2007. "A Quantitative Theory of Unsecured Consumer Credit with Risk of Default," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(6), pages 1525-1589, November.
    6. Nakajima, Makoto, 2017. "Assessing bankruptcy reform in a model with temptation and equilibrium default," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 42-64.
    7. Sumit Agarwal & Paige Marta Skiba & Jeremy Tobacman, 2009. "Payday Loans and Credit Cards: New Liquidity and Credit Scoring Puzzles?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 412-417, May.
    8. Hunt Allcott & Joshua Kim & Dmitry Taubinsky & Jonathan Zinman, 2022. "Are High-Interest Loans Predatory? Theory and Evidence from Payday Lending," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(3), pages 1041-1084.
    9. Tsung-Hsien Li & Jan Sun, 2021. "The Payday Loan Puzzle: A Credit Scoring Explanation," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2021_324, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    10. J. Carter Braxton & Kyle Herkenhoff & Gordon M. Phillips, 2024. "Can the Unemployed Borrow? Implications for Public Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(9), pages 3025-3076.
    11. Per Krusell & Burhanettin Kuruşçu & Anthony A. Smith Jr., 2010. "Temptation and Taxation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(6), pages 2063-2084, November.
    12. Neil Bhutta & Jacob Goldin & Tatiana Homonoff, 2016. "Consumer Borrowing after Payday Loan Bans," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(1), pages 225-259.
    13. Paige Marta Skiba & Jeremy Tobacman, 2019. "Do Payday Loans Cause Bankruptcy?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(3), pages 485-519.
    14. Neil Bhutta & Paige Marta Skiba & Jeremy Tobacman, 2015. "Payday Loan Choices and Consequences," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(2-3), pages 223-260, March.
    15. Feigenbaum, James, 2016. "Equivalent representations of non-exponential discounting models," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 58-71.
    16. Barth, James R. & Hilliard, Jitka & Jahera, John S. & Sun, Yanfei, 2016. "Do state regulations affect payday lender concentration?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 14-29.
    17. Zinman, Jonathan, 2010. "Restricting consumer credit access: Household survey evidence on effects around the Oregon rate cap," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 546-556, March.
    18. Leandro Carvalho & Arna Olafsson & Dan Silverman, 2024. "Misfortune and Mistake: The Financial Conditions and Decision-Making Ability of High-Cost Loan Borrowers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(9), pages 3173-3213.
    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. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    2. Dasgupta, Kabir & Mason, Brenden J., 2020. "The effect of interest rate caps on bankruptcy: Synthetic control evidence from recent payday lending bans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Mohammed El Hazzouri & Rowan El‐Bialy & Ela Veresiu & Kelley J. Main, 2023. "Vulnerable consumer experiences of (dis)empowerment with consumer protection regulations," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 1066-1088, July.
    4. James R. Barth & Jitka Hilliard & John S. Jahera & Kang B. Lee & Yanfei Sun, 2020. "Payday lending, crime, and bankruptcy: Is there a connection?," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1159-1177, December.
    5. J. Brandon Bolen & Gregory Elliehausen & Thomas W. Miller, 2020. "Do Consumers Need More Protection From Small‐Dollar Lenders? Historical Evidence And A Roadmap For Future Research," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(4), pages 1577-1613, October.
    6. Daniel Bjorkegren & Joshua Blumenstock & Omowunmi Folajimi-Senjobi & Jacqueline Mauro & Suraj R. Nair, 2022. "Instant Loans Can Lift Subjective Well-Being: A Randomized Evaluation of Digital Credit in Nigeria," Papers 2202.13540, arXiv.org.
    7. Neil Bhutta & Jacob Goldin & Tatiana Homonoff, 2016. "Consumer Borrowing after Payday Loan Bans," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(1), pages 225-259.
    8. Cullen F. Goenner, 2024. "The impact of payday alternative loans on credit union performance and loan quality," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 558-586, June.
    9. Wang, Jialan & Burke, Kathleen, 2022. "The effects of disclosure and enforcement on payday lending in Texas," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 489-507.
    10. Thomas A. Hemphill, 0. "The small-dollar loan industry: a new era of regulatory reform—and emerging competition?," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 0, pages 1-11.
    11. Thomas A. Hemphill, 2020. "The small-dollar loan industry: a new era of regulatory reform—and emerging competition?," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 55(3), pages 150-160, July.
    12. Lodermeier, Alison, 2024. "Credit access and housing insecurity: Evidence from winter utility shutoff protections," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    13. Yidi Liu & Xin Li & Zhiqiang (Eric) Zheng, 2024. "Consequences of China’s 2018 Online Lending Regulation and the Promise of PolicyTech," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(3), pages 1235-1256, September.
    14. Zachary Bethune & Joaquín Saldain & Eric R. Young, 2024. "Consumer Credit Regulation and Lender Market Power," Staff Working Papers 24-36, Bank of Canada.
    15. Eoin McLaughlin & Rowena Pecchenino, 2022. "Fringe banking and financialization: Pawnbroking in pre‐famine and famine Ireland," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(3), pages 903-931, August.
    16. Cuffe, Harold E. & Gibbs, Christopher G., 2017. "The effect of payday lending restrictions on liquor sales," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 132-145.
    17. Fitzpatrick, Katie, 2024. "Non-bank credit and food hardship: The association between payday loans, pawn loans, rent-to-own contracts and food hardship in households with children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    18. Christine L. Dobridge, 2016. "For Better and for Worse? Effects of Access to High-Cost Consumer Credit," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2016-056, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    19. Sarah Miller & Cindy K. Soo, 2020. "Does Increasing Access to Formal Credit Reduce Payday Borrowing?," NBER Working Papers 27783, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Jonathan Zinman, 2014. "Consumer Credit: Too Much or Too Little (or Just Right)?," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(S2), pages 209-237.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit and Credit Aggregates; Financial markets; Interest rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E71 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on the Macro Economy
    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:bca:bocawp:25-6. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bocgvca.html .

    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.