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Sending out an SMS: Automatic Enrollment Experiments for Overdraft Alerts

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Grubb

    (Boston College)

  • Darragh Kelly

    (Google)

  • Jeroen Niebohr

    (London School of Economics)

  • Matthew Osborne

    (University of Toronto)

  • Jonathan Shaw

    (UK Financial Conduct Authority)

Abstract

At-scale field experiments at major UK banks show that automatic enrollment into “just-in-time” text message alerts reduces unarranged overdraft and unpaid item charges 17–19% and arranged overdraft charges 4–8%, implying annual market-wide savings of £170–240 million. Incremental benefits from additional “early warning” alerts, triggered by low account balances are not statistically significant, although economically significant effects are not ruled out. Prior to the experiments, over half of overdrafting could have been avoided by using lower-cost liquidity available in savings and credit card accounts (FCA, 2018c). Alerts help consumers achieve less than half of these potential savings.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Grubb & Darragh Kelly & Jeroen Niebohr & Matthew Osborne & Jonathan Shaw, 2024. "Sending out an SMS: Automatic Enrollment Experiments for Overdraft Alerts," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1073, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:1073
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marianne Bertrand & Dean Karlan & Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir & Jonathan Zinman, 2010. "What's Advertising Content Worth? Evidence from a Consumer Credit Marketing Field Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 263-306.
    2. Bertrand, Marianne & Karlan, Dean S. & Mullainathan, Sendhil & Shafir, Eldar & Zinman, Jonathan, 2005. "What's Psychology Worth? A Field Experiment in the Consumer Credit Market," Center Discussion Papers 28441, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    3. Victor Stango & Jonathan Zinman, 2014. "Limited and Varying Consumer Attention: Evidence from Shocks to the Salience of Bank Overdraft Fees," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(4), pages 990-1030.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    overdraft fees; early warning alerts; liquidity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth

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